f



.



Methuen's Shilling Novels



A SERIES of popular novels by distinguished authors at is. i et.
The books are reprinted in handy form fcap. 8vo. on- go id
paper, and they ?.re tastefully bound in cloth. The first volumes
published have been a great success.

The following are either ready or in the press :

The Mighty Atom Marie Corelli

Jane Marie Corelli

Light Freights w. w. Jacobs

The Guarded Flame w. B. Maxwell

The Demon C. N. and A. M. Williamson

Lady Betty Across the Water

C. N. and A. M. Williamson



The Tyrant

Anna of the Five Towns

The Secret Woman

The Long Road

The Severins

Under the Red Robe

Mirage

Virginia Perfect

Spanish Gold

Barbary Sheep

The Woman with the Fan

The Golden Centipede

Round the Red Lamp

The Halo

Tales of Mean Streets

The Missing Delora

The Charm



Mrs. Henry de la Pasture

Arnold Bennett

Eden Phillpotts

John Oxenham

Mrs. A. Sidgwick

Stanley Weyman

E. Temple Thurston

Peggy Webling

G. A. Birmingham

Robert Hichens

Robert Hichens

Louise Gerard

Sir A. Conan Doyle

Baroness von Hutten

Arthur Morrison

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Alice Perrin



Methuen & Co., Ltd., 36 Essex Street, London, W.C.



Methuen's Shilling Library



/SERIES of general literature issued in fcap. 8vo. at is. net,
printed on good paper and well bound in cloth. The books
ari -eprints of well-known works by popular authors.

The/allowing are either ready or in th-; press :

A Little of Everything- E. V. Lucas

The Vicar of Morwensto\v s. Baring-Gould

John Boyes, King of the Wa-kikuyu John Boyes

*Jimmy Glover His Book James M. Glover

Vailima Letters Robert Louis Stevenson

The Life ot Tennyson A. C. Benson

An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde

Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde

De Profundis Oscar Wilde

Selected Poems Oscar Wilde

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime Oscar Wilde

The Blue Bird Maurice Maeterlinck

Mary Magdalene Maurice Maeterlinck

Sevastopol and other Stories Leo Tolstoy

*The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson

Graham Balfour

*The Life of John Ruskin w. G. Collingwood

The Condition of England C. F. G. Masterman, M.P.
Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to his Son

George Horace Lorimer

The Lore of the Honey Bee Tickner Edwardes

Under Five Reigns Lady Dorothy Nevili

*From Midshipman to Field Marshal

Sir Evelyn Wood

Man and the Universe Sir Oliver Lodge

* Slightly abridged



Methuen & Co., Ltd., 36 Essex Street, London, W.C.



JIMMY GLOVER
HIS BOOK



BY

JAMES M. GLOVER

MASTKR OF MUSIC AT DRURY LANE THEATRE



METHUEN & CO. LTD.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDON




First Published, at is. >tet, in



first P-nbliskud .
Second Edition .



October 12th IQI f
. Octcbff r<)ii



TO
MY WIFE

KATHLEEN



CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

PAGE

My first public appearance In the Dock Casfci-
gation by a Cardinal Kissed by a prima
donna Apprenticed to a chemist- Early ac-
quaintance with Fenianism I become a
Church organist And theatrical runner
" The Professor," my grandfather Editor of
" Moore's Irish Melodies "- My Dock appear-
ance as a vocalist Briefing " The Inter-
pruter" Sentence "The Meeting of the
Waters " Early Italian opera associations
with Colonel Mapleson, Senior Dublin gal-
lery riots The old -prima donna rivalries :
Operatic Masses " Elijah " sung by the great
operatic stars of the 'Seventies Mapleson's
tricks to shorten operas and railway fares
Henry Irving and Barry Sullivan -John
Harris Michael and John Gunn The
"drowned" omnibus " Willie O'Brien, the
' Freeman ' reporter " Tom Sexton First
public appearance of Oscar and Willie Wilde
Willie Wilde's "Daily Telegraph" method
An illustration Sir William Wilde Oscar
and " The Poet and the Puppets " " Vert-
Vert " and Dick Mansel The Mansel family
" The Gaiety Girl " Jimmy Davis and his
" Bat " experiences How to publish a
"warm" story The Right Hon. W. H. Smith,
Chancellor of the Exchequer and " News-
vendor " . 17-40

CHAPTER II

More Fenianism The escape of James Stephens,
the famous Head Centre Christmas turkey
and plum-pudding outside the prison My

9



io JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

PACE

father inside Baron Dowse Irish conspira-
tors and South African "traitors" James
Stephens and " Dr. Jim " Chemist's boy to a
monastery in Normandy Peter Burke, Editor
of "Burke's Peerage '"I start translating
French playsFrench and English ^seaside
resorts A comparison - " The National
Theatre " agitation begins What Victor Hugo
said to me -Early comic opera days in Paris
Emile Audran and his contracts The
Basque peasants and their contracts- Arthur
Collins recruits " to fight the Boers "My first
experience as a " Pianist-musical director "-
A "Commonwealth" . 41-56

CHAPTER III

I join Charles Collette Theatrical Digs George
Moore's " Mummer's Life " how it was
written The Novelty (Kingsway) Theatre
Financing the show The ex-convict money-
lender with the gouged-out eye Insuring the
backer's life for salaries At the Old Bailey
Teddy Solomon the Guards' burlesque
Keeping the " Ladies of the Chorus " respect-
able " The Mahdi " deletes my chorus I
compose, conduct, sing, dance and stage-man-
age for fifty shillings a week How II.R.H.
the Prince of Wales refused to be smuf^'d
into the theatre Lord Alfred Paget and the
music-librarian -Some musical discoveries 57-7-



CHAPTER IV

About Night Clubs " The New " Hughie
Drummond Blundcll Maple Sam Lewis
" The Gardenia " " The Corinthian " closing
them up Police raids " Half world " humour
an attempted suicide- The Percy Street
Club The Dolaros The Nell Gwynne A
thirty-five pound supper " The Alsatians " in
Oxford Street Electing the members A
" mixed " marriage a " missing " bridegroom
a disgraced bridal gown Early Bohemian-
ism The Clubs of the 'Eighties Harry Wil-
son The Jewish Thief From the Albany to
Spinks in Piccadilly via Paris, St. Petersburg
and Monte Carlo A "plant" in Bond Street



CONTENTS ii

PAGE

A cheque trick Dan Leno The Prince of
Wales sees two performances in one day at
the same theatre . 74-87

CHAPTER V

Restaurant London A few sketches The
brothers Gatti Romano's The end of Ro-
mano's Bar Its varied clientele Phil May
His early life A few corrections " Phil "
As drawn by himself Romano's death
Mr. Alfred de Rothschild pays four guineas a
bottle for brandy Charlie Hawtrey and the

new cashier The Marchioness of H and

the frustrated Guardsman's wedding D'Oyly
Carte and the Liverpool Band . . . 88-95

CHAPTER VI

First experience as a Journalist In Dublin
'Ireland's Eye" "Dick" Dowling Edwin
Hamilton Richard Pigott The " Times "
forger Paris The Moores " The Hawk"
Its distinguished staff J. Huntly McCarthy,
fames Runciman, Fred. Greenwood, Clement
Scott, G. Bernard Shaw, A. B. Walkley, R.
S. Hichens, Charles Williams and F. H.
Gribble Changing " The Bat " to " The
Hawk " How we were Financed Libels at
Bow Street The Policy of libel actions
Jimmy Whistler and the Drury Lane row
The new halfpenny journalism How Lipski
was hanged Chester Ives and the Parnell-
O'Shea divorce T. P. O'Conner " The Sun"
Kennedy Jones, etc. The Kennedy Jones
prophecy Gladstone Labby " The Even-
ing News " and an all-night vigil for
" Truth " pulls The Clement Scott debacle
Its early history " Willy " and the cab story
About Lord Russell of Killowen The
thieves at my Hampton Court residence
First-night stories How Lord Randolph
Churchill resigned as a Cabinet Minister . 96-110

CHAPTER VII

Augustus Harris, Knight First meeting He
commences stage-management on his own



12 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

PAGE

Lord and Lady Dunlo Harris " reforms " the
music-hall At the Palace How it emerged
from bankruptcy to bullion With Harris at
Drury Lane How Arthur Collins saved a
situation Operatic experiences How Jean de
Reszke " drew " on his own Sending Jean " a
few seats" Jean's retaliation He takes a
theatre and produces a play in forty-five min-
utesRunning three opera-houses a night
How great artistes sang at Windsor without
salary The Legion of Honour" Quelque
chose du ban " A medical certificate Punt-
ing on the river after Melba H.R.H. and the
omnibus box Harris' ruse Arthur Collins,
stage-manager Arthur Collins, Colonel--
Amusing contretemps- Queen Victoria
watches Arthur Collins set the scenery Mas-
cagni at Windsor Conducts at a music-hall
Plancon was " presented " and a prima
donna was " not " Conan Doyle and " Water-
loo " How Harris got out of a tight corner
General operatic remarks . . . iu-i>8



CHAPTER VIII

More about Augustus Harris and Arthur Collins
The Passing of Augustus Harris John
Coleman's " interregnum " with " The Duchess
of Coolgardie " Collins _ has an "option" to
buy Drury Lane Harris' humour German
Opera and G. B. Shaw hand Sore-throated
singers and sore-headed authors Harris and
his first backer His experience with a " serio
lady " in Glasgow He writes a cheque on the
back of a French menu for half a French
play His fortune ..... 129-142

CHAPTER IX

How Arthur Collins floated Drury Lane His
many disappointments Invalid, peevish, and
recalcitrant stars Leno and his humours
" Born " and " made " Leno and Campbell
fall out of a balloon" G.G.'s " telegram The
early discovery of Leno and its later bearings
The old pantomime and the new The old
whistling top gallery Spectacle, humour,
and music-hall turns Ballet music Its mod-



CONTENTS 13

PAGE

ernisation Comparison with the older styles
How the music of the music-hall has im-
proved Chance for new blood . 143-159

CHAPTER X

The Collins regime continued A human docu-
ment Jimmy Harrington Dan Leno out-
witted The relief of i.adysmith as a panto-
mime " gag " Sir Herbert Tree and the new
Lady Macbeth other Tree-isms Von Bulow
Cecil Raleigh and his collaboration Harry
Hamilton England's adversities and Cecil
Raleigh's play Hoaxing Ancona with the
Queen's present How the tenor got ready for
C9vent Garden in Italy Stories of the late
King Edward Disfiguring the Band-Parts
Landon Roland's commencement Henry
Neville's orchestral experience . 160-173

CHAPTER XI

Comic opera " Chilperic " again Arthur Sulli-
van The prejudices exhibited towards light
music in academic institutions " The Lost
Chord" as a hornpipe Farnie's great genius
French operas and their mode of transplant-
ing Musical comedy " La Poupee " Songs,
ancient and modern " Killarney " Edmund
Falconer "Spring, Gentle Spring" Bouci-
cault and " Babil and Bijou " and " The
Shaughraun " " Dorothy " and " Queen of my
Heart "" Tommy Atkins "" Soldiers of the
Queen " " The Absent-minded Beggar "-
How Sullivan wrote it who " scored " it
"Two Lovely Black Eyes "" The Man who
Broke the Bank" "Beer, Glorious Beer "-
The Trocadero in the days of music-hall
"Lions" before mutton-chop " Lyons "-
Paulus' season the " free-list '' Banking the
cheques The wrong india-rubber stamp 174-102

CHAPTER XII

A National Opera-house No Permanent Orches-
tras in London In 1888 Bricks and mortar
Mapleson's Police Station National Opera-



U JIMMY GLOVERHIS BOOK

PAGE

house How to really secure a National Aca-
demy of Music Augustus Hams' project-
How to collect a permanent nucleus Maple-
son's discoveries Opera Schemes and Schools
of Music Sir Joseph Barnby Operatic tor-
tunes How good Opera pays Carl Rosas
discoveries . . iQ3-2">

CHAPTER XIII

People I have met" The Follies "Their
origin, success, big Manchester coup
" Slang " Some specimens Catch phrases
Criminal stories The Gattis again London
Police Courts Mr. " Too-Cleverly " G.G. as
a Bow Street shorthand writer Holloway Jail
experiences Barney Barnato Arthur Stur-
gess and Lord Mersey .... 211-223



CHAPTER XIV

Andrew Melville Four bars of " agit "Real-
ising the posters Picking up actors at Derby
Station The Maybrick case in " Faust "-
Wilson Barrett W. W. Kelly The " queue "
outside the Princess' box-office The dead-
head system Mrs Langtry as a pantomime
fairy -Walton and Hemming The clog dance
and the Prince of Wales Richard Mansfield
" Ten minutes for refreshment " Sam Lewis
and the Peerage Who wrote Shakespeare's
Plays 224-234



CHAPTER XV

Olla Podrida The progress of the music-hall
" Faust " in a music-hall in the 'Sixties
" Potted " opera no novelty Types of singers
in the past The Sisters Leamar Belle Bil-
ton, i.e. Lady Dunlo, the Countess of Clan-
carty Various music-hall stars The Empire
Starting it as a music-hall " Wiry Sal "
Jack Jarvis George Edwardes " Refresh-
ment contractor" And manager The Palace
Its opening Its failure Its finance Its
success The improvement in the music
Sound music for the people " The Times "



CONTENTS 15

PAGE

protests- I reply General remarks An Irish
inscription Two ' Faust " stories Strauss
and Wagner A " Caux " celebre Nicolini
Actress-Peeresses ..... 235-256

CHAPTER THE LAST

Drury Lane The 1881 "Command" at Aber-
geldie "Money" Command in 191 1 Why it
was selected History of Drury Lane Theatre
William Davenant (1639) to Arthur Collins
(ign) Plays produced from Augustus Harris
to Arthur Collins Benefits The " Com-
mand" performance Official cast, etc. His
Majesty's letters of thanks Mr. Collins' ac-
count of the evening The King and the R.
A.'= pictures " A pleasant surprise " The
German Emperor's song : " Wake up, Eng-
land "Possibility of strained relations
Various comments ..... 257-277



JIMMY GLOVER- HIS BOOK



CHAPTER I

My first public appearance In the Dock Castiga-
tion by a Cardinal Kissed by a great primer donna-
Apprenticed to a chemist Early acquaintance with
Fenianism I become a Church organist And the-
atrical runner " The Professor," my grandfather
Editor of " Moore's Irish Melodies " My Dock
appearance as a vocalist Briefing " The Interpruter "
Sentence "The Meeting of the Waters" Early
Italian opera associations with Colonel Mapleson
Senior Dublin gallery riots The old prima donna
rivalries: Operatic Masses " Elijah " sung by the
great operatic stars of the 'Seventies Mapleson's tricks
to shorten operas and railway fares Henry Irving
and Barry Sullivan John Harris Michael and John
Gunn The "drowned" omnibus "Willie O'Brien,
the ' Freeman ' reporter" Tom Sexton First public
appearances of Oscar and Willie Wilde -Willie
Wilde's " Daily Telegraph " method An illustration
Sir William Wilde Oscar and " The Poet and the
Puppets " " Vert-Vert " and Dick Mansel The Man-
sel family " The Gaiety Girl " Jimmy Davis and
his "Bat" >xperiences How to publish a "warm"
story The Right Hon. W. H. Smith, Chancellor of
the Exchequer and " Newsvendor."

I MADE my first public appearance, vide the bap-
tismal registry in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin,
on June i8th, 1861, the date of this event syn-
chronizing with the anniversary of another great
happening the Battle of Waterloo. My second
notable performance was seven years later in the
dock of the County Cavan Assizes Court. On
each occasion domestic history, always flattering,



i8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

recounts that I was a "great success"; but my
second advent was even greater than my first,
because it more or less decided my future career-
one of unusual variety, considering that before I
was twelve years of age I could boast that I had
been thrashed by a real live Cardinal, and kissed
by a real live Italian opera prima donna.

The first experience I underwent at the hands
of the late Cardinal MacCabe, during his Kings-
town Canonry, the second at the lips of the late
Madame Theresa Tietjens. The cane of theology
fell on a certain part of my corpits like water on
a duck's back, although, to be strictly accurate,
1 was in the process anatomically less favoured
than the duck. The kiss of Music ruined me. I
had the misfortune to be born of a musical family.
My grandfather, Professor Glover, was organist at
Marlborough Street Pro-Cathedral and a prominent
teacher of music, my mother occup} r ing a like
position at another Church Mount Argus--my
father combining the duties of a commercial travel-
ler, six days a week after his political debacle
in 1868 with that of a Church vocalist on the
seventh day, as basso pro/undo in Whitefriars
Street Church. Two of my aunts were harpists,
a third was a soprano vocalist of eminence, and I
had two grand-aunts, over seventy years of age
each, who gave music-lessons from eight in the
morning till eight at night.

Of course, it was only natural that, possessed of
the required facilities for a favourable musical
career, every effort should be made to turn my
mind to something else, and in this great negative
movement for my social advancement my father
led the van with eminent but only temporary suc-
cess, for at a time when I was deputy-organist
at two Churches with artistic qualifications of no
mean merit, he succeeded by a masterstroke of
commercial ingenuity in apprenticing me for three
years to a druggist for ten hours a day at a weekly
wage of four shillings. " Bottle-washing," my
grandfather said and bottle-washing it un-
doubtedly meant to the end, had I adhered to



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 19

my father's wishes but such was not to be the
case.

The first notoriety I came in contact with was
P. J. Tynan, the famous "No. i." Tynan was a sort
of newsvendor-stationer on the shores near Dublin,
and I was one of three small boys who with a
nurse worried his stock-in-trade every afternoon.
I was too young at the time to appreciate any-
thing political brewing (however amplified as I
grew older), but I gathered sufficient knowledge
to know that my father's attendance at various
secret Fenian meetings gave my mother much
thought and worry. As a boy, I often accom-
panied him, and I can vividly remember two mid-
night funerals done in the dark, to prevent the
mourners from being recognized as suspects ; and
that I attended "en plein air " the obsequies of
John Mitchell, Sergeant McCarthy, and John Mar-
tin. Consequently to wake up one morning and
find a posse of " horneys," as policemen were then
described in Dublin, surrounding our private resi-
dence at Sandycove, caused no excitement in my
mind till my father was subsequently arrested and
" jailed " (owing to Mr. Gladstone's suspension of
the Habeas Corpus Act, 1866), without trial or
enquiry of any kind. This latter incident is in
connection with a happening referred to later on.

This all brought me to the earliest possible time
that I remember earning my own living, or, as my
grandfather tersely put it, " doing something to
keep me out of the workhouse."

Thus it came about that on many occasions I
played the early service at the Pro-Cathedral in
the morning, sold senna and salts till 6 p.m. at
Cornelius Mannin's, the Dublin druggist's, played
another service in the evening at my mother's
Church, St. Michael's, in Kingstown, or at Mount
Argus, which I left later on for the then greatest
honour of all in my view to carry the red fire
which, as a chemist, I had made in the daytime,
to the property-man at the local Theatre Royal. It
will be noticed that in my early existence the
Church and the Stage were amalgamated. In fact,



20 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

it was owing to my anxiety to " scamp " the Bene-
diction service at Kingstown for fear that I should
miss the train and be late at the theatre, and dis-
appoint the clown with his two pounds of red fire,
that I was subjected to the castigation already re-
ferred to at the hands of the late Cardinal MacCabe,
a gentleman, a great theologian, but an anti-
Nationalist.

These few cursory remarks, as I have hinted,
will serve to show that for a young gentleman
turned eleven 3^ears of age I obtained very early
experience of more or less entertaining incidents.

There was one person, however, who played a
very important part in my early life, and to whom
I owe my present position. It was he who taught
me everything I know. It was he who, against
my will, physically thrashed my musical education
into my brain, who rescued me from the menial
service of the druggist counter, and at his own
expense, albeit contrary to my father's wishes,
placed me in a position to earn my own living.
Whether it be writing for the Press, the ability to
speak several languages, my knowledge of the
piano, the violin, or the organ; I owe it all to him,
and I thank the Providence which enabled him (.o
live to see some honourable fructification of his
labours. This was my grandfather, John William
Glover, " The Professor," the famous Irish com-
poser and Editor of " Moore's Irish Melodies."

At certain fixed periods of the year it was Pro-
fessor Glover's custom to prosecute short tours of
the smaller towns in Ireland for the purpose of
lecturing on National Music. These lectures were
generally delivered in the local Town Hall,
assembly rooms, lecture hall, or Court House. In
the event of the latter place being used, he usually
sat upon the Bench with an instrument in front
of him called an " orgne expressive." This con-
trivance doubled itp into an oblong-shaped box for
travelling purposes, and on one occasion it was
seized during one of the then frequent Fenian
scares and my grandfather " held up " for two-
hours on the assumption that it contained firearms



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 21

a polite attention of the Royal Irish Constabu-
lary due to his relationship to my father, who at
this time was really a marked man. The vocalist
of the evening, if any at these " Soirees musicales,"
had to contribute his quota of the entertainment
either from the witness-table or the dock. It was
from the latter vantage that I made my second
public appearance already referred to, for full of
the family pride ever present on such occasions my
grandfather announced that I would sing " The
Meeting of the Waters." It was really a most
important Pooh-Bah occasion. I commenced my
evening's work by unpacking the luggage, taking
out and fixing the organ, collecting the money at
the doors, selling the programmes, books of words,
etc., and then made my appearance between the
first and second parts as " The Celebrated Young
Boy Vocalist Master Williams the Boy Mario."
Of course my name wasn't " Williams " at all, but
the old Composer wished to convey to the public
the impression that he had brought a budding
Mario, or Sims Reeves, from London especially for
the occasion, and this impression would be entirely
dispelled if I appeared as one of the family.

In the daytime I used to wander about these
Assize Courts and pick up many a good story. It
is well known that in the West of Ireland the real
Gaelic is much spoken, and at the Assizes a
genuine impasse arises in the cross-examination of
many of the various prisoners, so much so that a
prominent Q.C. then on the Galway Circuit told
me one of his many experiences of this difficulty.
He was standing on the doorstep 'of the Court one
summer when he was accosted by Paddy Flana-
gan. " Begorra Mister Murphy it's meself that's
glad to see ye ; ye got me out of the last neck
trouble and it's mi bruther is up this time for
a hanging job. By the Virgin Mary he's inno-
cent, but all the witnesses speak the Irish, and it's
only yourself that knows the owld tongue." As a
matter of fact the barrister in question was well in
demand in Gaelic cases on account of his pro-
ficiency with the language. " I really cannot," he



aa JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

replied, " I have a long civil case for the Midland
Railway. " But you must, Mr Murphy, or mi
bruther will get hanged," and so the gentle art of
persuasion went on and the barrister equally as
gently refused till in despair, unable to get rid of
the importuner, he suggested that if the brief was
sent to him he knew a young Gaelic scholar who
had been " devilling " in his chambers who could
do it just as well, and whom he would privately
" read up " in the case. " Nay nay, Misthur
Murphy, Oi'll have none of that, it's yourself that
can git mi bruther off," and off the supplicant
went.

The barrister thought no more about the case till
the next Assizes, when he once more encountered
Paddy. " Well, my man, how did your brother
get on?" was his tender enquiry from his old
client. " Och begorra, all right he got off."
" Off," said the barrister quite pleased, " did you
retain my young friend then? " " Sorra a retain."
" Then who did you brief? " anxiously pressed the
Q.C. " Oh, be Jabers, I briefed the interpruter. "

Early associations with the musical world
brought me later in touch with operatic and
theatrical matters, and the old opera days of
Colonel Mapleson pre began at this time to make
a deep impression on my youthful and theatrically
inclined mind. Never were there such days or
nights. Tietjens, lima di Murska, Trebelli and
her husband Bettini, Cotogni, Luigi Arditi and Li
Calsi two splendid maestri of the old Italian
school the young George Perren, Signer Campo-
bello (Mr Campbell) a Scotch basso with an
Italianized name, Charles Santley, Wilfred Morgan
("My Sweetheart when a boy"), who married
Miss Morton, daughter of the late Charles Morton,
the " Father of the Music Halls," " Mister " Foley
from Cork, i.e. " Signer Foli " : these were names
to draw with in those days, and with such musical
babies' milk was I nursed and my mind educaio-:
in the real school of good Opera.

Mapleson toured with a sort of " leader " chorus
of Italians and other professionals of foreign kind.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 23

In each town he could locally reinforce his troupe
with twenty or thirty choir vocalists who knew the
operas- musical enthusiasts all, thus saving a
large amount in railway fares. One regrets this
rough-and-ready way of forming an " ensemble,"
but it had its virtues. Hardly any Dublin draw-
ing-rooin was complete without a set of all the
operatic works, and Dublin's great musical taste
was a natural sequence.

Then there existed various factions of the
"Boys," the " Tietjens," the "lima di Murska,"
and the " Sinico " tribes who, on " Magic Flute "
or other " combined cast " nights, would all enter
by the early doors to the top gallery, with large
baskets of flowers suspended on ropes of roses, and
at the proper time lower out the floral complimen-
tary tributes each to their particular favourites
with cries of " Dy Murska! " (lima di Murska) to
be answered by counter-cries of " Tishens ! "
(Theresa Tietjens) or " Sinnyko ! " (Madame
Sinico). Mozart's work was always chosen for the
evenings of these displays of enthusiasm and tem-
per, mainly on account of the three prime donne
being in the cast on the same evening. Then there
was the dragging of the carriages home, the un-
horsing by willing volunteers, the showers of
violets from enthusiasts standing by, the wreaths
o^ roses presented by real music-struck admirers ;
and on Saturday nights, what fun to stand at the
old Theatre Royal door and hear the shouts of
"What Mass to-morrow?" "What Church to-
morrow?" For all the artistes sang in one or
other of the Catholic Churches on Sunday, and this
replenished the poor-box. This also created rivalry
among the Churches, all of which struggled for the
better " programmes."

Imagine it ! A Mass service sung by Tietjens,
Sinico, Santley, Vizzani, Cotogni, Trebelli, Bettini.
They went either to the Pro-Cathedral, where my
grandfather was organist, or to the Church in
Kingstown where my mother was organist, or to
Whitefriars Street, where Signer Alessandro
Cellini, their brother Italian, was organist, and



24 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

where I was also a " deputy." A performance of
" Elijah " one Sunday at St. Michael's at Kings-
town gave my mother its music-directress, the full
force of the " Grand Italian Opera Company "
before mentioned, of whom the only survivors to
this day are Charles Santley, whose recent fare
well at Covent Garden professionally ended a great
career, Administrator Fricker, now of Rathmines,
and the present writer.

Another great amusement on Saturday nights
was the often successful attempts of the gallery
boys to frustrate Mapleson's ideas of economy in
transit. The fares from Dublin to England on
Sundays on special mail and boat rates were very
expensive, as in those times the third-class service
did no Sunday work. Now if Mapleson travelled
150 souls the difference to England in transit might
mean anything from a pound to two pounds per
head ; so, finding that the local Tedcastle coal-boat
with passenger traffic left on Saturday night at
midnight, he usually chartered all its human
freight power at six shillings a head to Liverpool,
where they would arrive on Sunday mornings witn
the whole day before them for further transit across
England. The poor Italian choristers and travel-
ling band, mostly bad sailors, could not protest on
their own account but the " bhoys " in the gallery
soon discovered the trick, for it meant instructions
to the conductors, Li Calsi, or Luigi Arditi, to
" cut " the performance only sing or play one
verse of everything and take no encores. In this
way the patrons of the popular parts saw that they
were getting " short weight " and action was soon
decided upon.

Now the orchestral signal for " cutting " or go-
ing to the end of any musical number, is two taps
on the desk from the Conductor's wand, called in
the vernacular, "tapping for the coda" or end.
vSo whether it was "Ah! Che la Morte,"
Balen," The Soldiers' Chorus in " Faust," or other
possibly to be encored popular item, the very
moment that the " taps for coda " were heard there



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 25

would arise on Saturday nights a perfect hurricane
of howls from the " gods," " Second vurse y'ill
hav' to go back ' Looeegee ' (this to Luigi Arditi)
this won't do," etc., till these delays nearly -\p-
proximated the original length of the cut number.
Mapleson afterwards told me that although he be-
lieved it was done first in all enthusiastic sincerity,
he really found later on that this had become a
carefully planned scheme by some of his Italian
choristers, whose objection to mat de mer inclined
them to the luxurious three-and-a-half hours mail-
boat crossing on Sunday rather than the fourteen
hours all-night coal-boat crossing on Saturday.

The reason for shortening the performance was
so that the impresario could pack up his wardrobe
effects and catch the boat, which steamed away at
midnight ; so later on he managed to make Satur-
day a " Combination " programme finishing all
the Chorus ensemble numbers by 10.30 p.m.

The arrival for two fortnightly seasons of a
young actor from London, named Henry Irving,
first raised the point as to Irish rivalry with the
then idol of the " gods," Barry Sullivan, one of
the old brigade of thundering Shakespearean
ranters who used his bombastic bigotry to such an
extent that on one occasion, when they brought on
a throne for " Richard III." and the older actor
queried its usefulness, the property-man, as though
to settle the point, remarking, " It was all right
for Misther Irving," was promptly ordered by
Barry Sullivan to " then certainly take the
da d thing away immediately."

At this time, the Theatre Royal, Hawkins
Street, Dublin, was owned by Mr. John Harris. *n
Grafton Street were Gunn and Sons, the great
Roman Catholic music publishers, and on the b?ck
part of their property was built the Gaiety
Theatre, of which theatre the Gunns became
lessees, and Harris, fearing opposition, put his
Theatre Royal in the market, only to hear that
the new tenants were his rivals, the Gunns. This
preyed on his mind to such an extent that he grew
morose. At the time he was stopping with a



26 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

mutual friend, John Riley, whose back-garden butted
out on the sea at Glasthule, and one afternoon he
went out, lay down on an island rock, and waited
until the tide came in to do its homicidal work.

The Gunns were a very musical family; one
played the " viola " in the various Philharmonic
societies, and both sang in the Monkstown choir
on Sunday. Cardinal (then only Canon) MacCabe
took the opportunity of soundly trouncing them in
the pulpit one Sunday on some supposed " inde-
cent " posters announcing the arrival of " Tin-
Two Roses," a new play just then produced in Lon-
don. They were the most innocent specimens of
printing in the world, and the Canon's attack was
quite gratuitous ; but the two heads of the original
ladies budding forth from the rose leaves lent them-
selves to indecorous treatment by the vicious mind
which brought protests to the clergy and a more
or less suggestive cartoon in a local " squib " was
the means of the matter being brought finally to
the Canon's notice.

One like the rose when June and July kiss ;
One like the young rosebud sweet May discloses.
Sweetly unlike, and ye v alike in this
They are two Roses. J. A

The two originals were Miss Amy Fawsitt and
Miss Newton. Miss Newton was the wife of the
still living, well-known actor, Tom Thome. Apart
from anything else, this production of " The Two
Roses " is always associated with the first success
of Sir Henry Irving in London as the original Digby
Grant. James, or " Jimmy," Albery, its author,
who married the handsome Miss Mary Moore,
rather pessimistically and erroneously wrote his
own epitaph :

He slept beneath the moon,
He basked beneath the sun,
He lived a life of Going-to-do
And died with nothing done.

Which, after everything is said, was not
true.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 27

Shortly after that, the Gunns, John and Michael,
gave up these domestic duties, and after the death
of the elder brother " Long John " (he was six feet
four), Mr. Michael Gunn came to London, and for
years threw in his lot with his friend, D'Oyly
Carte, till " Mikado " time, I believe, when the
arrangement was terminated. The Gunns' father
met his death in a strange way. He used to travel
to the office on a 'bus which crossed the Portobello
canal bridge at Rathmines ; the horses one morning
took fright, and turned right down into the empty
lock 'bus, passengers and all. " Begorra ! "
shouted the bewildered lock-keeper, " I'll save their
lives by floating the "bus," which he immediately
proceeded to do by opening the sluices, filling the
lock and drowning all the passengers.

It was during the management of John Harris
at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, that the late Hor-
tense Schneider the great Offenbachian " Grande
Duchesse " came into contact with the then pre-
siding Cardinalate of the Roman Catholic Church
Paul, Cardinal Cullen, who had come to Dublin
from Armagh, where he was Archbishop. Cullen
was a schoolfellow of my grandfather, and he
migrated to Rome after he was " called " and
became a strong friend of Pius IX., the then Pope.
His Italian education rather inclined him to regard
with suspicion any movement of revolutionary
character, and if only for this reason his descent
on Dublin was looked upon by the Nationalist
party with suspicion.

1 served Mass with him dozens of times. He
had a gentle nature, and encouraged the Italian
florid style of music in Church service to such an
extent that his own generosity recoiled on him,
for, through certain protests from other quarters,
Pope Pius IX. interfered, and he had to issue an
edict enforcing a return to the St. Cecilian or
more serious form of Church music now generally
in use.

Of course, the wisdom of this may be more or
less questioned. John Wesley is reputed to have
spoken, " Why should the Devil have all the good



28 JIMMY GLOVERHIS BOOK

tunes ? " But perhaps the Dublin fashion in
ecclesiastical music was going too far. At any
rate, the " musical priest " became an important
factor, and the melodies of the Italian operas were
easily translatable into Latin words for Sunday
consumption. The Church filled like a theatre on
Boxing Night, and many converts were made ; but
jealousies arose, intimations to Rome, as I have
"hinted, ensued, and the closure before indicated
arrived.

Many a time and oft have I as a boy buttoned on
the layman collar to the priestly throat, and
ciceroned Father Tom or Father Pat to a "re-
hearsal " (not " performance " that was " inter-
dit ") of " Trovatore," " Traviata " or other
operatic programme. On one occasion, I well
remember, the priesthood were much concerned as
to the first production in Italian of " II Talismano,"
"Balfe's swan-song, so to speak, when it was
rumoured that the " Mass " was to be represented
in the Church scene.

But back to the can-can and the Cardinal. During
Lent, in those days, it was not thought " the
thing " to go to the theatre, and so a casual visit
during the forbidden period of a French Opera
Bouffe Company supporting the great Hortense
vSchneider in Offenbach's opera, "The Grande
Duchesse," into which the can-can was first intro-
duced, was played for its first week to sparse audi-
ences and almost empty benches. But some one
had told his Eminence the Cardinal, and to the
utter astonishment of us all I was a handsome,
chubby-faced, surpliced choir boy at the time on
a particular Sunday, the Cardinal ascended the
pulpit, dramatically denounced, in a Lenten ser-
mon, the can-can, and threatened us Roman
Catholics with all the terrors of the " Index Ex-
purgatorius " if we dared to visit the theatre till
Lent had spent its forty days.

The result, as may easily be imagined, was
packed houses at the theatre and empty pews at
the Church.

Shades of " The Times " in the 'Seventies, when



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 29

the "moral" or "immoral" influence of a Drury
Lane play, " Formosa," was the subject of a long
discussion letters which it was afterwards found
were written anonymously by Dion Boucicauli, the
author of the play.

Poor old Cardinal Cullen ! He was a sport, and
many a good yarn is told of him in ecclesiastical
circles. He at one time lived at the priest's house
or presbytery, next door to the Marlborough Street
Cathedral, and ordained that all priests, other than
those on sick call leave, should be in house not
later than 10 p.m. One night, in spite of all en-
treaties and protestations from the holy father on
duty, he insisted himself on doing the janitor's
work, having an idea that social attractions in
Dublin in which the priesthood always played a
large part were interfering with the discipline of
his orders. So he sat behind the chained-up door
waiting till the small hours for two late " birds "
out roystering at a neighbouring parishioner's " at
home." At 2 a.m. a gentle tap came to the
door and a priestly head pushed through the small
aperture left by the hanging chain. " Is old Paul
gone to bed yet?" said the overdue priest of
God. "No," replied Paul (the Cardinal), "he is
here."

But in the morn he never said a word.

At all the concerts which availed themselves of
my mother's services my father generally admon-
ished me " to look out for Willie O'Brien " (now
Mr. W. O'Brien, M.P.), "the 'Freeman' reporter,
and ask him to kindly mention your mother " and
if I could catch " Tom Sexton of the ' Nation ' " it
would be useful for a par. My grandfather always
took the credit of introducing Tom Sexton, great
"Nationalist, great orator, ex-Lord Mayor of Dublin
and generally fine fellow, to politics. He dis-
covered him at Waterford, so he always boasted,
and asked the then struggling journalist to come
to Dublin and stop with us in Talbot Street; but
when the future great Home Ruler Nationalist did
come, we sent him to a Mrs. Miley's, at 4, Upper



30 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Gloucester Street, where lie had rooms on the first
floor for years, and where all our family ultimately
lived in the upper part for a long period. I must
now publish an unreserved apology to Tom for the
number of times I poured water into his boots,
altered his nightly instructions to his landlady
he always left a note to be called at twelve (he was
late at the office) and I generally made it six
rather inconvenient, as he seldom went to bed
before 4 or 5 a.m. and generally amused my-
self at his expense. But his kindly nature was
never wanting, and paragraphs which I wrote
about myself and my amateur club's dramatic per-
formances, always received a kindly hospitality at
his hands. It was years later that a raucous come-
dian on the stage at a time when I was conducting
the band, made a contemptuous reference to my
friend and Mr. Parnell the night these two politi-
cians were first arrested in 1881. I immediately
rushed to the dressing-room, protested in strong
language, and received what I am told was an
attempt at " an upper-cut " the mark of which I
bear to the present day but the disfigurement
really meant a flattening of my nasal ornament
which for ever bears the mark of my loyalty to my
friend, of which I am more or less proud.

Mr. vSexton's connection, after Isaac Butt's death,
with the Home Rule movement, is now history ;
but one of his first public appearances in Dublin
came about, I think, in rather a funny way. It
had been decided to celebrate the centenary of the
poet, Thomas Moore, the author of " Moore's Irish
Melodies." The then Lord Mayor (Sir J. Barring-
ton) lent the Mansion House for the inaugural
meeting, to make the necessary arrangements.
From this meeting my grandfather, who was the
musical adviser to the ceremonies, returned in a
fury, complaining of the interference of "that
young vagabond " Tom Sexton, and " two
whipper-snappers," Willie and Oscar Wilde, the
two sons of Sir William Wilde, the great oculist.
The only cause for "offence" seemed to be that
they had insisted on a better literary effort being



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 31

submitted for the Celebration " Ode," arguing that
the one already written by Stephen Nolan Elring-
ton to my grandfather's music was " not worthy of
Ireland."

This, I think, was the occasion also of the first
real public appearance of the late Oscar Wilde and
his brother Willie the latter a delightful, genial,
brilliant Irishman, who left us too early in a life
not too heavily burthened with the real, genuine
Bohemian wits. I do not know any word-photo-
graph of a man which is so true to nature as my
friend A. M. Binstead's description of Willie in
" Pitcher in Paradise," which I quote by his kind
courtesy :

*' The best wit need.-- lamplight (says ' The
Pitcher'), and tio gentler humourist or more
polished gentleman ever entertained the thought-
less patrons of the Spoofs (this was a night club in
Maiden Lane, Strand, invented it is said by Arthur
Roberts) the gilt-edged fellows who dropped in to
kill time with a buck rabbit, but eventually stayed
on to spend a delightful evening night after night
than Willie Wilde. The personification of good
nature and irresponsibility, Willie with ten thou-
sand a year would have been magnificent : without
other income, however, than that which his too in-
dolent pen afforded, the poor fellow was frequently
in straits which must have proved highly repug-
nant to his real frank and sunny disposition. No
doubt his artistic inactivity was to some extent in-
herited . . . yet Willie loved (to talk of) his work
and would charm the ears of the uninitiated with
such soft south wind as : ' The journalistic life irk-
some ? Dear me, not at all. Take my daily life
as an example. I report at the office, let us say at
twelve o'clock. To the Editor I say, " Good morn-
ing, my dear Le Sage," and he replies, " Good
morning, my dear Wilde, have you an idea to-day ?"
" Oh yes, Sir, indeed I have," I respond. " It is the
anniversary of the penny postage stamp." "That
is a delightful subject for a leader," cries my editor,
beaming on me, " and would you be good enough,



32 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

my dear Wilde, to write us a leader, then, on the
anniversary of the penny postage stamp?" "In-
deed I will that with pleasure " is my answer.
" Ah ! thank you, my dear boy," cries my editor,
" and be sure to have your copy in early the
earlier the better." That is the final, injunction,
and I bow myself out. I may then eat a few
oysters and drink half a bottle of Chablis at Sweet-
ting's, or alternatively partake of a light lunch at
this admirable club, for as rare Ben Jonson says,
" The first speech in my Cataline, spoken by
Sylla's ghost, was writ after I had parted friends
at the Devil Tavern. I drank well and had brave
notions." I then stroll towards the Park. I bow
to the fashionables, I am seen along incomparable
Piccadilly. It is grand. But meantime I am
thinking only of that penny postage stamp. I try
to recall all that I ever heard about penny postage
stamps. Let me see ? There is Mr. So-and-so the
inventor, there is the early opposition, the first
postal legislation, then the way stamps are made,
putting the holes in the paper ; the gum on the
back ; the printing all these details come back to
me, then a paragraph or two about present postal
laws ; a few examples of the crude drolleries of the
official postal guide perhaps as a conclusion, some-
thing about the crying need for cheaper Postal
rates. I think of all the circumstances as I stroll
back along Pall Mall. I might go to the British
Museum and grub up a lot of musty facts, but
that would be unworthy of a great leader writer,
you may well understand that. And then comes
the writing. Ah ! here is where I earn my money.
1 repair to my club. I order out my ink and
paper. I go to my room. I close the door. I am
undisturbed for an hour. My pen moves. Ideas
flow. The leader on the penny postage stamp is
being evolved. Three great meaty, solid para-
graphs each one-third of a column that is the con-
summation to be wished. My ideas flow fast and
free. Suddenly some one knocks at the door. Two
hours have fled. How time goes! It is an eld
friend. We are to eat a little dinner at the Cafe



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 33

Royal and drop into the Alhambra for the New
ballet. I touch the button, my messenger appears.
The leader is despatched to 141, Fleet Street, in
the Parish of St. Bride, and off we go arm in arm.
After the shower the sunshine. Now for the en-
joyment of that paradise of cigar ashes, bottles,
corks, ballet, and those countless circumstances of
gaiety and relaxation known only to those who are
indwellers in the magic circles of London's Literary
Bohemia. "Is it not delightful, boys?" . . and
the reply would be, " Superb." ' "

This is the most lifelike pen picture of one clever
brilliant journalist by another that I have ever
read. It cannot be improved upon. There are not
many of his kind about now. Willie was always so
delightfully decorative. He could do nothing until
it had been well flowered with blooms of speech.

The last time I really saw him to speak to was
at the Adelaide Gallery. I sat with an old friend
now dead who was on the eve of his second mar-
riage. Willie and the friend had quarrelled, so I
thought that as a school-fellow of both I might
secure another guest for the morning's ceremony.
But Willie would hear of no possible rapproche-
ment. " My dear James much as I sincerely
appreciate your ambassadorial kindness of heart,
there are certain circumstances which will ever
prevent diplomatic relations being re-opened with
your unpleasant friend and my equally unpleasant
enemy. The orange blossoms, the unnecessary
shower of beautiful white rice, the not very elegant
slipper, may all follow yonder person to the happi-
ness which he little deserves, but I shall not be a
contributory unless certain published apologies are
foixueoming which I know would be impossible."

i am not quite so certain that Willie was not in
the right ; the particular umbrage was a journalistic
reference to Willie's mother, Lady Wilde, a fiery,
but excellent poetess of the Young Ireland school,
who wrote and was well known as " Speranza."

It is only right to say here that Lady Wilde
always had a premonitory confidence in Oscar's
B



34 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

superiority as against that of the elder brother.
Visiting them one day at their house in Merrion
Square, the late George Henry Moore father of
George Moore an earnest politician in the 'Fifties
and 'Sixties, enquired of the mother what she
thought of the two boys' prospects. "Oh! " said
Lady Wilde, " Willie is all right, but as for Oscar,
he will turn out something wonderful," and she
preserved this optimistic confidence right through
to the very end.

The Wilde family were both clever and eccentric.
The mother of Oscar and Willie cut a most weird,
yet interesting figure in Society, and had very great
literary attributes which were no doubt inherited
by her sons. Oscar's theatrical " posing " was dis-
tinctly a maternal inheritance, for her white pow-
dered blue-black head was invariably crossed with
a laurel wreath, and her bosom and dress over-
decorated with a mass of more or less cheap, but
invariably artistic jewellery. In her literary efforts
she was one of a trio of female poets who sub-
scribed weekly ebullitions of patriotic prose and
verse to " The Nation." The three noms de plume
were " Mary," " Eva," and " Speranza " the
latter as I have said being Oscar Wilde's mother.
What a surrounding of grief came over the three
writers. " Mary," a Miss Browning, fell in love
with a young Ireland factionist he flew from
arrest for safety to America and she died of a
broken heart in a convent; "Eva," a Miss Kelly,
became engaged to a young student who was
" transported " (i.e. sent to Australia as a felon
it was not till later on that " transportation " was
abolished) for ten years for seditious poetry. On
condition that he would not plead guilty, for which
he was promised a free pardon, she promised " to
wait," and she did marrying him two days after
his arrival, twenty years later, at Kingstown, when
he had finished his sentence.

The fate of poor Oscar, " Speranza 's " younger
son well, let us draw a curtain over a misguided
but never-to-be-forgotten genius.

His mother, Lady W T ilde, was a Miss Ellgee



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 35

sister of a New Orleans Judge and daughter of a
Wexford parson, and in addition to her " Speranza "
signature she had a failing for inditing letters on
political subjects to the papers and signed " John
Fanshawe Ellis." Gavan Duffy afterwards Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy, and one of our Premiers in
Australia, the then Editor of " The Nation " was
indicted and convicted a conviction which was
afterwards quashed for " high treason " in pub-
lishing one of " Speranza's " pieces of verse. When
the prosecuting counsel read the poem aloud there
was a horrible deathly sympathetic silence through
the Court in Green Street, Dublin, only broken by
some female sobbing and an emotional move in the
public gallery, as an almost fainting woman cried,
" I alone am the culprit." It was " Speranza " who
spoke.

Reading in " The Nation " of the fast decimation
in the Irish National ranks, Lady Wilde good
journalist as she was, immediately rang in with a
long, up-to-date " rally to arms," of which I may
be personally excused in quoting the first stanza :

" Has the line of the patriots ended,

The race of the heroes failed,
That the bow of the mighty unheeded

Falls back from the hand of the quailed ?
Or do graves lie too thick in the grass
For the chariot of progress to pass ? "

And to-day is 1912. And the " Chariot of pro-
gress " is still trying to pass for Ireland. And the
Home Rule millennium is time will show ; but the
Irish outlook is brighter, the sunburst is less
clouded, and the harvest of " graves may fructify
into the fruit of a people's desire."

Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar and Willie,
had a rough, but ready wit, and he was very good
to the poor. Once an old apple-woman called on
him during his dinner-hour, and the following dia-
logue took place :

" Oh, Sir William, it's meself that can't see a
' stim,' " (" stim " is the smallest possible particle
in Irish talk), " an' they tould me 'twas yerself



36 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

could give me back mi eyesight," and she squatted
her shrivelled form in the specialist's best arm-
chair.

"Damn it, woman!" said the great oculist,
what time he bared the pupil of one of her eyes,
" what age are ye? "

"Oh! Sir William, I won't be after tellin' you
a lie, but come next Michaelmas oi'm ninety-
five."

" Good God, woman ! go home and go down on
your marrow bones and thank the Lord you're
alive at all. Who the devil wants to see anything
at ninety-five? "

While I am " on " the Wilde family, I may
mention " The Poet and the Puppets," a clever
burlesque on Oscar Wilde's " Lady Windermere's
Fan," written by Charles Brookfield and myself,
which was the introductory idea of the musical
comedy craze. It was intimated to us that Wilde
objected "to being caricatured." Oh, what hypoc-
risy! We, on the other hand, knowing Wilde's
love of reclame, were not averse to a little our-
selves. We were " out " for publicity, so we laid
ourselves bare to be leg-pulled. Some authority
had just disclosed the fact that the real Wilde name
was " O'Flaherty," so Brookfield, Charlie Haw-
trey and the present writer sat down in my rooms
in Shaftesbury Avenue to arrange the opening bars
to a musical paraphrase of the tune of " St. Pat-
rick's Day," entitled " That's what made Oscar
O'Flaherty W T ilde." He got to hear of this, and
his rage knew no bounds. He even appealed
to E. S. Piggot, the Licenser of Plays, and insisted
on our reading him the libretto. This we did,
so while cigars burned, the poet puffed, and
punctuated each page as it was read with such
praises as " Delightful ! " " Charming, my eld
friends! " (His calling Brookfield "old friend"
was touching.) " It's exquisite! " etc., etc. As he
showed us to the door he just gave us this parting
shot : "I feel, however, that I have been well
Brookfield, what is the word? what is the thing
you call it in your delightfully epigrammatic Stage



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 37

English. Eh? Oh yes! delightfully spoofed!"
When the curtain went up on the first night we
knew he had, and it was only fear and the
Licenser which led us to temporize with the
" Poet " before we publicly exposed him pulling
"The Puppets."

What Wilde really objected to was the inclusion
of his own name, so to please the Licenser of Plays,
Brookfield, my collaborateur, took out the word
" Oscar " and substituted " neighbour," so that the
Chorus of the Song on the first night read as
follows :

" They may bubble with jest at the way that I'm

dressed,

They may scoff at the length of my hair.
They may say that I'm vain, overbearing, inane,
And object to the flowers that 1 wear.
They may laugh till they're ill, but the fact remains

still, '

A fact I've proclaimed since a child,
That's taken, my dears, nearly two thousand years
To make Neighbour O'Flaherty's child."

In the original the last two lines read :

" That's taken, my dears, nearly two thousand years
To make Oscar O'Flaherty Wilde."

Although chronologically out of order, this may
be a good opportunity, as I am mentioning Mr Pig-
got and his office, to refer to the Licensing of Plays
at a time when a Royal Commission enquiry has
been discussing its merits and demerits. But
several interesting incidents were not then referred
to the following being of special interest. When
the " can-can " was done in the 'Seventies at the
"St. James'" by F. C. " Fairlie " Phillips in a
version of " Vert-Vert," by the late Henry Her-
man, the then Lord Chamberlain objected to the
shortness of the frocks, and the general vulgar tone
of the dance; so it occurred to the stage-manager,
Richard Mansel, to put the girls on the next night
in long black satin skirts, with pink fleshing tights
and petticoats " By order of the Lord Chamber-



3 8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

lain " ran a special line in the programme. This
resulted in the withdrawal of the license, and a
note to the management with special reference to
Mansel :

" I shall also leave such instructions with my
successors as will prevent you ever holding a
license in your own name again."

Richard Mansel, whose real name was " Laudei-
dale Maitland," and whose family claimed to be
the rightful owners of the Earldom of Lauderdale,
felt this " prohibit " keenly. He was a fine, big-
framed Athlone Irishman, a splendid stage-
manager, a beautiful French scholar, and with his
brother William first introduced comic opera,
Herve's " Chilperic," to this country at the
Lyceum in 1871. Mansel's mother was a dis-
tinguished Irish wit, who hunted astride, smoked
cigars and told a good story. Mansel afterwards
staged "La Fille du Tambour Major" at the Al-
hambra, and was associated with many successes
off and on but the fear of offending high quarters
rather militated against his being engaged by
serious managers.

Many stories of the late Mr Piggot are told.
Personally I was successful in getting that excellent
successful play " The Gaiety Girl " ostracised and
au mtme temps hugely advertised practically by
my own inexperience. It was Jimmy Davis'
(" Owen Hall ") first play. Now, Jimmy Davis,
as editor of " The Bat," once had to keep an ap-
pointment with Justice Hawkins, Lord Brampton,
at the Old Bailey ; it may be mentioned, at the time
of the interview, his Lordship was on the Bench.
Poor old " Jimmy " was in another place. The
editor, quite honourably, it must be admitted, re-
fused to divulge the name of the writer of the
complained-of article, and a temporary seclusion
was the result I think as a first-class mis-
demeanour. But later on, there was published in
his paper another libel, and he stopped in France
to avoid the consequences. Exiled there for some
years a petition was got up to the libelled Lord



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 39

Durham to withdraw the proceedings, and tHs
document was presented at Newmarket in the pad-
dock one day to Sir Henry Hawkins for his signa-
ture with a sort of " return good for evil " behest
by the organizer. Hawkins merely said, " I have
not yet been given the name of the writer of the
first libel," and walked on. One knows now that
both are gone, that the great judge would have
melted had Davis given in, but the old " Eat "
Editor was true to the best traditions of the Press,
and its respects for anonymity.

Now in " The Gaiety Girl," the character of Mr.
Justice " May " was a cross between the personality
of Sir Francis Jeune and Lord Brampton (Sir
Henry Hawkins), and certain lines, references and
word paintings were meant to accentuate some
domestic matters in the life of the hanging Judge.
I thought this unfair, and I wrote Mr. Piggot to
this effect, not in any sense vindictively, but just
to emphasize the risk that public men would run
if this sort of license were tolerated. Result :
eleventh hour interference with the play, and
alterations insisted on and carried out. I believe
the Play Licenser telegraphed from Devon for Mr.
George Edwardes, who was producing " The Gaiety
Girl." The producer quickly obeyed the summons,
fell in with the Licenser's views, and the result
was the commencement of " Owen Hall's " fortune
as a playwright.

As for Jimmy Davis, when I told him years after-
wards, he laughed heartily, and thanked me for the
advertisement.

Personally, I never had much to do with
" Jimmy " Davis, but in late life found him one of
the very best companions it was possible to find.
He used to do many clever things, and one of the
smartest was the device by which he escaped the
supervisory authority of W. H. Smith & Sons'
" Index Expurgatorius " department. One week
he particularly wished to publish a " warm " story.
The supervision given to these matters is very
rigidly carried out, and at this time was in the
hands of a Mr. White, whose name was held in



40 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

reverence and mentioned with fear in every London
newspaper office. The Editor of " The Bat " knew
that this story would be followed by many a pro-
test from the " unco guid," that Mr. White would
interfere, order " The Bat " off the bookstalls and
the circulation for that week ruined.

At this time, the Right Hon. W. H. Smith was
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and " An Open
Letter " to the Chancellor appeared in the same
issue facing the " warm " story, strongly condemn-
ing the financial policy of the reigning Govern-
ment. The result was exactly as " Jimmy " ex-
pected. The particular issue of " The Bat " was
banned, but on the Editor intimating to the Chan-
cellor by letter that he thought it poor spite for a
Minister to suppress " in his private commercial
capacity " a newspaper that was " antagonistic to
his political policy as a public man," the generous
W. H. Smith (without of course reading " The
Bat ") immediately telegraphed to the Strand and
reinstated the offending organ on all the bookstalls
of England.



CHAPTER II

More Fenianism The escape of James Stephens,
the famous Head Centre Christmas turkey and plum-
pudding outside the prison My father inside
Baron Dowse Irish conspirators and South African
"traitors" - James Stephens and "Dr. Jim"
Chemist's boy to a monastery in Normandy Peter
Burke, Editor of "Burke's Peerage" I start trans-
lating French plays French and English seaside
resorts A comparison " The National Theatre "
agitation begins What Victor Hugo said to me
Early comic opera days in Paris Emile Audran and
his contracts the Basque peasants and their contracts
Arthur Collins recruits " to fight the Boers " My
first experience as a " Pianist-musical director " A
" Commonwealth."

INASMUCH as my poor father was more or less in-
timately connected with the Fenian movement
of the early 'Sixties, I do not think that it would
bode any good to tell of many experiences which,
taking place as they did, when I was but five or
six years old, cannot be recorded with as much
accuracy as a true chronicler would desire, and
would not be too favourably viewed by the few
living actors in one of the greatest social and poli-
tical dramas which have ever been played on the
stage of national politics. I will, however, give a
reminiscence of an important political event to
which my family was more or less a party in 1865,
and which, except for a little decorative description,
is true in substance and fact.

Kingstown is about six miles from Dublin. My
father was a Town Commissioner, a species of local
dignity which gave him the prerogative of writing



42 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

" T.C." after his name, and " I.O.U." in front of
it. Kingstown is historical in its connection with
early Feiiianism. Most of the conspirators lived
there, many of the plots were hatched there, and
some of the fugitives were hidden there.

One night, to my mother's ntcer astonishment,
my father announced his intention of going to Dub-
lin, and, what was more amazing still, of remaining
away the whole night. If there was any element
of distrust in my poor mother's mind, it was dis-
pelled when he announced his further intention of
taking me with him. When I had been hauled out
of bed, my father and I wended our way down the
Forty-Foot Road toward the station. About half-
way down he noticed two figures which seemed to
be following us these on closer inspection turned
out to be a couple of well-known detectives. We
arrived at the station just in time to take our
tickets and catch the last train to Dublin.

Between Kingstown and Dublin the train stops
six times, and not having had my proper rest, I,
on entering the carriage, dozed off to sleep to be
awakened a few minutes later, when my little body
was dragged out through a door of the carriage,
but on the opposite side. I would have cr.ied out
had my father not clapped his hand over my mouth
and kept it there till our train was well out of the
station.

That night, or rather morning, James Stephens,
the prominent Fenian leader, was to be released
from prison, collusion with the warder having
already been obtained. (Stephens, with John
O'Mahoney, founded the Fenian movement in
1858.)

The manner of this collusion has been more or
less inaccurately told. The warder Byrne, who
carried out the whole business, had a brother, a
ticket-collector at Westland Row Station. Now,
the working force of the movement lived at Kings-
town, and what was easier than to palm off a note
with your railway ticket, for the warder to visit
his brother in his leisure, for the brother to hand
a key to any sympathizer when taking his ticket



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 43

for that key to be moulded and duplicates taken ?
This was the scheme, and it succeeded.

To alight from the train at Black rock was my
father's idea of " doubling " on the two detectives
who were on our track, for they had followed us
into the train and went on to Dublin. My lather
and I having given them the slip, we then got a
cab and drove into Dublin by a circuitous route.
There was lots of time 'twas then only twelve,
and they did not " work " till three.

Byrne the warder had another prison confederate
named Breslin, and these two were able to arrange
that on one of their rounds the door of Stephens'
cell was to be left unlocked ; the Head Centre was
to be led to the prison wall. At a certain hour two
pebbles from the outside would indicate the readi-
ness of the rescuing party, and the reply from
Byrne and Breslin inside was a sod of grass thrown
over the same wall. Stephens, with the aid of a
rope, was then passed over into the welcome arms
of his friends, which included my father.

The next morning the whole country was
aroused with the " alarming " intelligence of the
escape of a great Fenian James Stephens, the
famous Head Centre, who, I since learned, slept his
first night out at our house, and a safe asylum
found for him elsewhere later till, a few Sundays
later, a small fishing smack at Malahide, outside
Dublin, sailed for France with a cargo of three
human freight, a " coachman," a " postillion," and
a " footman," who assisted a " passenger " on to
the deck and that passenger, whom they had
"driven openly through the streets of Dublin, was
James Stephens the famous Head Centre of the
future " Irish Republic " whom all the forces and
finances of the British Government could not catch.

This was the reason for the early morning visit
from the police referred to in the last chapter. Nine
o'clock generally found us coming down to break-
fast ; but some few weeks after the incident just
mentioned, we were aroused by the shuffling of
feet coming up the gravel path. My brother and
I jumped out of bed and rushed to the window to



44 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

find the whole house surrounded. The authorities
had a warrant to search the house, which they did,
finding nothing more incriminating than a few let-
ters in Italian from an uncle of mine, Ferdinand
Glover, who had been studying in Italy preparatory
to joining the Pyne and Harrison Opera Company
at Drury Lane. This correspondence they tri-
umphantly carried off in the vain hope that they
had found some treasonable documents in a cypher
language.

The following day my father was sent for by
the local magistrate, a Mr. Dix, who requested him
to sign a document of dutiful submission to the
Throne, and " no more harbour the enemies of the
Crown our vSovereigu Lady the Queen."

(I may here mention that my father owned a large
hall on his licensed premises, where meetings were
held by the Irish Patriots, and in this building most
of the functions of the party were held with closed
doors.)

My father refused; when he was politely given
sufficient time to arrange his affairs, and, in com-
pany with two detectives, proceeded under arrest
to Mountjoy Prison, commonly called " Cease to
do evil," where he was detained without trial of
any kind " during Her Majesty's pleasure." He
was not lonely there were eighty-four " refusers "
in all. Drapers, builders, hotel-keepers, grocers,
etc., they all declined to show " the white feather,"
and enforced seclusion was the only alternative.

The next family move was to secure my father's
release, if possible, to spend the approaching
Christmas at home. All our endeavours failed, and
I never shall forget that Christmas Day, when a
heart-broken wife and two sons trundled up the
Phibsborough Road to Mountjoy Prison on our own
outside car. We had not much luggage, but,
arrived at the gate, my mother was allowed to
enter, carrying with her an already carved turkey,
some cut ham, and a few delicacies, but no wine
or carving utensil of any kind. We sat outside,
my brother and I, on the car, eating our own din-
ner, and every moment looking up at the now



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 45

familiar window behind which a man and wife were
trying to spend a merry Christmas we too young
to be aware of the real inwardness of the whole
movement. Of course, the " prisoners " in this
movement were really only first-class " detenus."
Absolutely no punishment whatsoever was awarded
them, but like a later-on Coercion Act policy the
Habeas Corpus Act was suspended to close in the
principal " agitators " and so my father had to
be " incarcerated."

These interviews were short, and my poor mother
often came out melting in tears. We drove home
this Christmas Day, neither of us two boys realizing
the important bearing that eventful time would
have on our future lives, and, three days later, my
mother having given the required undertaking (I
think, to Baron Dowse in chambers), my father was
released, after spending sixteen days in prison
only to find that a bankruptcy petition against him
had been allowed to go by default (a ruse on my
mother's part to break up the entire surroundings)
and we were all penniless.

This escape of the famous Head Centre was the
end of an agitation which commenced in the 'Fifties
and which had for its sponsors, in the constitu-
tional sense, many strong Irishmen amongst them,
Charles Gavan Duffy and George Henry Moore
the latter the father of George Moore, the novelist.
George Henry Moore was an M.P. ; he was un-
seated in 1857, and when Sadleir, the swindling
bank manager and M.P., fled the country and
was expelled from the House of Commons, Moore
proteged another enthusiast, the O'Donohue, and
got him elected for Tipperary.

vStephens and others had started a newspaper
called the " Irish People," and it was the suppres-
sion of this organ and the breaking up of the pro-
paganda that it carried on which led to the incidents
just related. Of course, the Fenian movement had
made not only strong headway in Ireland, but also
in the English towns where the Irish population
predominated ; but a series of comic-opera battles
and insurrections, certain traitorism among its less



46 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

educated " heads," and a misguided idea of what
really was the end in view over a real poverty of
funds all tended to failure. But with all its
faults, Mr. Gladstone himself admitted that it was
only since " the appearance of Fenianism that the
mind of this country (i.e. England) has been greatly
turned to the consideration of Irish affairs." If
Mr. Gladstone were alive now, July, 1912, what
would he not have said ?

The midnight meetings, the secret happenings,
the almost Boucicaultian regime of these times
often worried my poor mother, who deliberately
and perhaps advisedly, tore up and destroyed on
arrival every agenda, notice of meeting or other
incriminating document of this troublesome period,
which was sent to my father. I say " Boucicaul-
tian " because some of the well-known Irish
dramatist's " incidents " were strongly reminiscent
of the real things, and often " anticipatory," show-
ing that even the stage was resorted to for some
line of campaign.

But one incident niy father told me is rather
quaint, and quite in the line of the turning tower
in " The Shaughraun " ; in fact, although not quite
similar, there is no doubt that Dion Boucicault had
this " escapade " in his mind at the time he wrote
"The Shaughraun." My father and some others
had made up their minds to "cover" a poor
Fenian boy who was chased on a warrant. He was
a bit of a " steeplejack " by profession, and hid in
the very Church the steeple of which he knew so
well from professional acquaintance. Pursued to
the very confessional box in which he was hiding,
he slipped through the sacristy and started mount-
ing the steeple the Royal Irish Constabulary offi-
cers following him on the other side, but the
conically shaped steeple sheltered the professional
climber, and quick as the two policemen followed
on one side the " bhoy " slowly dropped on the
other side niche to niche, and as the cone widened
as he descended and covered him he was enabled
to get away quite unharmed.
In a later period an incident occurred which



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 47

showed how the real revolutionary spirit had crept
into every department of even the public service.

A Dublin telegraph clerk named was a

Nationalist to the backbone, and when wholesale
arrests of Irish members were prevalent, it was a
mystery for a long time as to how the " wanted "
patriots got to know some time before Dublin
Castle that orders were given for their immediate
arrest they thus securing sufficient time to come
to England. Now this young patriot (I grant you
against Post Office regulations) opined that the
cause of Ireland would not be hurt by the convey-
ance of this early information, and for a very long
time the State was baffled. For the very moment
that a telegraphic order to arrest arrived at Dublin
Castle the intended prisoner, no matter who he
may have been, had " just sailed for England."

It so happened, however, that a telegraph boy
one day at a big meeting in the Dublin City Hall,
walked up to the wrong person and said " Mr. Par-
nell, I believe," and the wrong person opened the
telegram, gave the show away, and the telegraph
clerk paid the penalty of his patriotism, and went
"to prison according to Post Office regulations.

I regretted this incident very much. I knew the
young fellow well. In the daytime he was em-
ployed as a telegraph superintendent at the Dublin
General Post Office, and at night he wanted to be
and really was an operatic impresario. He en-
gaged big artists, like Tietjens, Sinico, etc., and
with his " Concert Direction " did many a series
at the Antient Concert Rooms and Rotunda in
Dublin.

The following chestnut is attributed to the judi-
cially human Baron Dowse, who once charged a
jury in a libel action where the defence was a
printer's error : " Jintlemin iv th' Joory, the
diffince in this case is th'owld wun iv a printer's
error. I well remimber once makin' a political
speech in Cork and quoting that old saying,
' Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of
Cathay,' and what was my astonishment to read in
the ' Cork Constitution ' the next morning that I



48 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

had said ' Better fifty years of tight-rope than a
circus in Bombay! ' Now, jintlemin, you know
the value iv a printer's error."

In reference to the escape of James Stephens in
my friend F. M. Bussy's interesting book, " Irish
Conspiracies," Bussy is decorative, inaccurate and
beautifully vague. Stephens, I repeat, was housed
the night after his escape by my father at Kings-
town, and also by Frank Morgan, the Dublin Cor-
poration solicitor. The policeman Mallon's account
of the matter is purely " I-was-told-by-the-post-
man's-sister " sort of history.

At this moment a movement is on foot to erect
a statue to Stephens, and I hope I shall be able to
join in its success. Naturally, the usual sort of
criticism will be hurled at the promoters of the
scheme, but I am old enough to have stood on the
steps of Bow Street and seen Sir Starr Jameson
(Dr. Jim), and Col. M. Rhodes (a brother of Cecil
Rhodes) arraigned as traitors and ultimately sent
to terms of imprisonment for traitorous arm-bearing
against the British Government, and now we make
them baronets and heroes, Prime Ministers and
Governors of Colonies. James Stephens did no
more and no less, and he had real patriotism for his
motive and not Stock Exchange "graft."

My father, as I have previously said, was more
or less apathetic as to my future career, and up to
a certain point actually resented any interference
which in his mind might have been made to im-
prove its prospects. It came about, therefore, that
after wasting three years of the very best of my life
selling senna and salts, I arrived home one night
and announced my intention to my grandfather of
"chucking it." My father, being away on one of
his bi-weekly trips in the West of Ireland, my
mother was consulted on the subject, and, with her
consent, I found myself on the following morning
on the road to London, the day after that on the
road to Caen in Normandy, and the morning
after that settled down at a little village called
Vieux, twelve miles outside the Normandy town.

All the time I was accompanied by my grand



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 49

paternal angel, whose sole object was to end the
insecurity and unprofitableness of my earlier exis-
tence and start me afresh under circumstances
which ensured my acquiring a knowledge of French
and other languages. At Vieux I stayed some
time with some friends, whom we used to know in
Dublin, an M. Dupaigne ; but whether it was that I
found the place too slow or they found me too
fast I know not; the end of it being that I was
removed to a monastery in the town of Caen, there
to stay until further orders. My arrival was the
day of the annual breaking up for the summer holi-
days. I must at once begin by saying that I was
taken in under protest. It was argued that as
there were to be no school-studies during the holi-
days, it would be useless for me to remain ; but my
old benefactor was equal to any little emergency of
that sort, and pointed out that a sort of colloquial
knowledge of French was perhaps the only object
of my Normandy visit ; so I was allowed to remain,
and for three full months I was consigned to the
anxious care of sixteen monks.

My only Caen companion, located at the neigh-
bouring Lycee, was a similar summer recluse, a
son of Sir Bernard Burke, Peter Burke, now the
Editor of " Burke's Peerage." " Au commence-
ment " we are now learning French allow me to
say that no matter where I go or what I do to the
end of my days, I shall ever remember the kind-
ness of those kind brothers. Of course, they did
not know that they were giving me an education
which in future years would be turned to the trans-
lation of naughty French plays, a more than liberal
knowledge of Zola's books, or the reading of Rabe-
laisian records to find fit subjects for London ballet
librettos : but from the first day to the last there
was never anything but the greatest kindness
shown me and a thorough consideration exhibited
for my lonely position. The fact that I was Irish
and that I played the organ did nothing to diminish
that friendly feeling, and the last day of my visit
was looked upon by me as one of the most miser-
able in my existence. Of course, arriving at suck



50 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

a peculiar time of the year, I managed to fall in
for all the holiday-making of these frugal folk, and
when I think of the long excursions we made into
the neighbouring country, and the glorious feasts
we made on bread and cheese and cider, I long tor
the whole time over again, and wonder that our
holiday-seeking public do not go to the trouble of
finding these happ}^ little resorts, which are un-
fettered by the vulgarities of the common tripper,
and unknown to the hanger-on-billiard sharp and
seaside-lounger brigade, not to mention the attrac-
tion of a rational holiday, with every kind of
amusement, which can be had for about two pounds
a week.

From Caen I migrated to Paris, and studied the
violin for a period under a master, adding to my
meagre income by a little journalism for such Eng-
lish or Irish papers as would take my " stuff."
With an authority for a little London illustrated
paper in Catherine Street, " The Entr'acte "
(" L'Entr'acte " sounded well in French ears) I
managed to secure an " Open sesame " to many a
theatre, opera-house and concert. In this wise I
determined to make a " coup," or as it is now
called in Americauese, a " stunt," and so I came
in touch with no less a person than Victor Hugo.

I have no wish, under any circumstances what-
ever, that any undue importance should be "placed
upon this interview with one of the greatest poets
of last centuiy, but it's a landmark in one's life,
so I will describe it.

The manner in which I met Victor Hugo was
rather peculiar. A Miss Pfeiffer in the year 1879
wrote a letter to the " Daily News " on the ques-
tion of a State-subventioned Theatre, and it is
worthy of note that as I am writing now in the
year 1912, people are still writing to the " Daily
News " and other papers on the same subject. But
at that time I was living in Paris and doing re-
markably well, thank you, on the sum of sixteen
shillings a week, a matter of about twenty francs.
Therefore, if I wanted to indulge in any culinary
luxury, holiday extravagance, or other embellish-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 51

merit of my usual routine, it was absolutely neces-
sary for me to look to other sources for the
" wherewithal." Journalism, as I mentioned before,
responded to my call, and having- for the purpose a
free admission to the Paris theatres, I got the offi-
cial appointment as the " sole Paris correspondent "
to the London illustrated theatrical weekly referred
to, at the enormous emolument of nothing a year,
then edited and owned by my old friend, the late
\V. H. Coombes.

MioS Pfeiffer's letter gave me the idea of inter-
viewing Victor Hugo on the question of State-
aided theatres, obtaining his views as to how they
operated in France, and trying to get him to com-
mit himself to some opinion as to how he thought
they would work in England. Access to the great
man was more or less easy, if one knew how to go
about it, but if one didn't, a little subterfuge was
necessary, and with the knowledge that Victor
Hugo had somewhat sympathized with the Fenian
Movement in Ireland, I thought I would at least
make some good out of an agitation which had so
much interested him. Under these circumstances
I approached the great man. I wrote and told him
I was an Irishman, that I was exiled, that my
father and mother were too poor to keep me, that
liis sympathies I had noticed in all his writings
were for " the down-trodden country " (good touch
this). I compared his exile in England and Jersey
to the exile of my dear father in America. I ap-
pealed to him as a poor heart-broken Hibernian
nomad, and I asked him to assist me, to do me a
slight favour, and explain a matter which h.ad
arisen in discussion in London journalistic circles
in reference to National Drama in England and the
theatre in general.

Through the kindness of Mr. Massey, a relative
of Redan Massey, the former a Paris correspondent
of the Dublin " Freeman's Journal," I managed to
obtain Hugo's address, which was 230, Avenue
D'Eylau, now the Avenue Victor Hugo. Follow-
ing on my first letter, which was thrown out as
a feeler, I made several visits to the house and



52 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

carried on a conversation in worse French than
my education permitted me, so as to make myself
sufficiently misunderstood by the servants, in
order to gain a further introduction to the great
man. Right in the foreground of all my argument
I kept up the spirit of the " pauvre Irlandais," and
this, I should think, was the " Open sesame " to
the whole affair. I received a letter to call, which
I did, and was ushered into the Poet's large dark
oak sitting-room with its huge log fires burning;
I could hear the clash of knives and forks in the
adjoining apartment which told me dinner was
"on," and 1 sat for one solid hour, afraid to move,
until at last the large curtains were drawn and the
noble, white-haired man appeared. He was accom-
panied, as was his wont on these occasions, by M.
Louis Blanc. It is not my purpose to enter into
any elongation of the interview beyond saying that
the generous old man walked up to me, shook me
cordially by the hand, sympathized with me
thoroughly, asking what he could do for me and
entered into conversation.

His views on a National Theatre or a Comedie
Francaise in London were as follows : " From the
standpoint of Art there is absolutely no doubt >mt
that a Comedie Anglaise in London would do a
great deal for native art, but I am afraid that the
conditions under which the Drama pursues its way
in your Metropolis, the conditions under which
your poets and authors write their works, the con-
ditions under which they are performed, and the
general atmosphere of irresponsibility under which
the average Briton patronizes all amusements, and
his theatres in particular, render it almost impos-
sible that the scheme about which you have written
me could be successfully realized. More than this,
sir, I do not feel disposed at this late hour of the
evening to say, and if these remarks of mine tan
be of any use to you to write over to your country,
so long as you do not misconstrue my meaning,
you are welcome." I made a note at the time of
these remarks which I may say are perfectly non-
committal.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 53

He then bowed me gently out, and not having
the necessary 'bus fare back, I wended my way
past the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs
Elysces, that night thickly carpeted with snow,
and hurried me home. I don't think there is any-
thing wonderful in this interview, but I may be
allowed to emphasize the point that Victor Hugo
pointed out in 1879 that a National Theatre was
impossible in this country, and here are we in 1912,.
thirty years later, no nearer such a desideratum.

For the rest of my stay in Paris, I do not think
I did anything of sufficient importance to find
record in these pages. I was present at the first
evening of "La Fille du Tambour Major," Offen-
bach's one-hundredth work, and I think one of his
greatest operas (spoiled in this country by being
produced in too large a theatre, the Alhambra)
and I remember the cry of the French pittites on
the first night, when they started the beautiful
waltz in the overture, " C'est lui, c'est lui, c'est
bien lui." I was also at the first night of
" Olivette " at the old " Bouffes Parisiennes," and
I had a great deal to do at the time with the imme-
diate importation of these two operas into England.

" Olivette " was, you may remember, the first
introduction of Audran to this country, who later
on took England by surprise in "La Mascotte,'"
and though he failed in the " Grand Mogul,'' he
capped them all in "La Poupee." He was a thin,
anaemic, little weak man, with an eternal stom-
achic complaint. He came over here and generally
stood on the stage at rehearsals and refused tc
allow any interpolation in his score. A song being
required for Father Maxim in "La Poupee " he-
consented to one being manufactured out of the
waste melodies of the chorus work and any other
strains from any other opera of his own composi-
tion. In this way the great Monk's Song was in-
cubated, making the hit of the night. In the
original opera the chorus of the " Jovial Monk "
was a drunken chorus of intoxicated clerics. This
was altered ! Mr. Lowenfeld, the manager of the
theatre, asked him to come over to conduct for the



,54 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

5ooth night. He did so, but made it a sine qua
non that a pound of grapes, a box of chocolates,
and a pint of milk should be placed in his bedroom
every night he was in England. This was actually
inserted as a clause in his contract.

These special contract provisions often take
humorous turns. During the South African War,
3Mr. Arthur Collins of Drury Lane wanted some
.giants for the Druiy Lane pantomime, and reading
that the fanners in the Basque country wintered
on stilts owing to the treacherous marshy land, he
made his way there with the author, Mr. Arthur
.Sturgess, and Attilio Comelli, the designer. After
.great trouble he persuaded twelve of the peasants
to come to London for the three months' pantomime
season, the English Drury Lane trio finding them-
.selves described in " Le Matin " as " Un Syndicat
Anglais qui a essay er recruiter des Francais d'allcr
in Afrique Slid pour prcndre armes centre les
Boers." Of course this brought about a serious
diplomatic situation. ]e ne pense pas, but all went
well till the contract was received by the Basqual
-actors. They did not mind travelling third-class,
they did not mind smoky brouillardesque London
for three months, they did not even object to leav-
ing their wives and sweethearts ; but a sine qua non
as strong as the laws of the Medes and Persians
was that they should have placed in their rooms
in their Soho hotel every morning for breakfast at
S a.m. " half a pound of Gruyere cheese and a
bottle of claret." Fancy such a matutinal feast.

Returning to my own career. On my arrival
from Paris in 1880 I found myself stranded in Lon-
don, with the intimation that my regal allowance
of twenty shillings was to be discontinued, and
that I was to consider myself in the position of
"paddling my own canoe." Under conditions
which to me at the moment appeared somewhat
lordly, I answered an advertisement for a pianist
in the " Era," was successful, joined a woman-
magician entertainment as solo pianist at the
enormous salary at thirty-five shillings a week,
and commenced my life at Southampton. The



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 55

magician-lady was a so-called mesmerist, who per-
iormed all sorts of ridiculous feats to which I was
to " vamp " appropriate music. It did not require
much intelligence when two gentlemen were giving
a demonstration of the noble art of self-defence
while under the influence of the " occult " science,
to vamp, " We don't want to fight, but by Jingo
if we do"; or when a gentleman was giving t.n
up-to-date imitation of the dance attributed to St.
Vitus, to play, "See me dance the Polka"; nor
when a lady floated about in the belief that she was
" flying " was it out of the way to suggest, " I
would I were a bird " ; although mistakes might
arise, and did arise, for in a moment of temporary
aberration it often happened that when the bird-
lady was flying about in the air (there were no
aeroplanes in those days), the tune I played was
the old one of " When the pigs begin to fly " a
topical ditty with this title was popular at the
time.

To my humorous mind, this sort of thing was
second nature. So it came about that I, who had
Klondyked a possible millionaire's income by the
calculation of innumerable years at thirty-five shil-
lings a week, found myself at the end of the second
week of my engagement incontinently thrown into
the street, told that I was " no good," that my en-
gagement " had finished," and that I would have
the extreme honour of paying my own railway
fare back to London. These were not the actual
words used, but that is what it all amounted to,
for the exact difference of opinion which so rudely
interrupted my Utopian ideas was the fact that I
hadn't cleaned my own boots. This, of course, was
only a ruse, and an absence of candour prevented
them telling me I was no good as a matter of fact
I don't think I was much ; but after everything is
said and done, when one has been to some of the
finest colleges in Ireland, given a big musical edu-
cation, sent to a swell " pension " in France to
the best masters in Paris, and speaks French like
a native, it is rather hard to be told that you
haven't sufficient intelligence to play the piano to



56 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

a dancing Dervish at a magician's entertainment
in a small English village, or to suggest the appro-
priate music for a local navvy swallowing a pint
of paraffin oil and all for 55. nd. a night. I did
not mind being told my piano-playing was not
" polished," but I drew the line at a similar refer-
ence to my boots. I protested ; thus I was incon-
tinently dismissed.

Now it so happened that in that town, at a neigh-
bouring music-hall, were " The Three Sisters Lor-
raine," and one of these charming ladies had got
it into her head that I was very much like the
other sister, so much so that they called me
" Brother." (Later on I called them other things,
but that is another story.) The three sisters, with
the aid of two acrobats, a sworcl-swallower and
a man-fish, formed themselves into a company-
promoting scheme, and went to the neighbouring
Portsmouth for a week, asking me if I would join
them. The position placed itself before me thus :
cash in hand ios., in P.O. Savings Bank 55., fare
to London 8s. Possibilities in London, nothing.
Possibilities in Portsmouth, everything. I need not
detail the matter, but to Portsmouth we went and
we made a big failure there. The acrobats bolted,
the man-fish accepted an engagement at the local
music-hall with the sword swallower, the three
Sisters returned to London, and I was told that
the whole thing was a Commonwealth and asked
to take twelve shillings or nothing. An early ac-
quaintance with Mr. Euclid having familiarized me
with the difference between twelve shillings and
nothing, I accepted the twelve shillings ; but I had
made one condition : that whatever position I occu-
pied during the week's Commonwealth, whether it
was playing the piano, selling programmes, or
dressing the three acrobats I made it a sine qua
non that I should be described on all the bills as a
full-blown "Musical Director." Strange though it
may seem, that was the happiest move of all, be-
cause it influenced my entire career.



CHAPTER III

I join Charles Collette Theatrical Digs George
Moore's " Mummer's Life " how it was written The
Novelty (Kingsway) Theatre Financing the show
The ex-convict moneylender with the gouged-out eye
Insuring the backer's life for salaries At the Old
Bailey Teddy Solomon the Guards' burlesque
Keeping the " Ladies of the Chorus " respectable
" The Mahdi " deletes my chorus I compose, con-
duct, sing, dance and stage-manage for fifty shillings
a week How H.R.H. the Prince of Wales refused to
be smuggled into the theatre Lord Alfred Paget and
the music-librarian Some musical discoveries.

I CAME straight to London, just in time to read
that the Theatre Royal, Dublin, had been de-
stroyed by fire. This gave me a rather melancholy
twinge, for a great deal of my early recollections,
as I have recounted, were associated with the old
house in Hawkins Street the scene of the early
struggles of Henry Irving, J. L. Toole, the Rig-
nolds, T. C. King, Barney Williams, Barry Sulli-
van, and many famous people. These were all giants.
Where are their prototypes now ? Is the motor-car
Maida-Vale-maisouetted manager of the twentieth
century a greater artist ? One pauses for reply.

The Theatre Royal had prospered more and more
every year under the Gunns until this catastrophe,
the one regrettable fatality being the death of the
manager, Frank Egerton, who, true to his post,
was killed trying to save his master's property.
Mrs. Egerton was a Miss Glover, remotely con-
nected with our family, and the incident cast a
gloom over everything theatrical in Dublin for
some time to come.

57



5 S JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

On the morning referred to, when I arrived from
Portsmouth, I saw the whole world and fifteen shil-
lings before me, but I had possessed myself of half-
a-dozen bills on which my name was paraded as
"Musical Director," and with these in hand I
immediately proceeded to write for free admissions
to the various London theatres. In the ordinary
course I directed one of these requests to Mr. W.
H. Griffiths, at that time acting manager of the
" Old Dusthole " in Tottenham Court Road, where
that great histrione Miss Genevieve Ward was
playing in " Forget-Me-Not." Imagine my siir-
prise, not to mention my joy, on receiving the
following letter back :

DEAU SIR,

If you are a Musical Director, and would
like an engagement, come down here to-niorrow
night. Yours truly,

W. H. GRIFFITHS.

I went, I saw, I conquered. I walked out with
an engagement in Mr Charles Collette's burlesque
company, at the then to me handsome emolument
of 2 per week. The company, at that time, con-
stituted : Mr. Charles Collette who married a
sister of Lady Bancroft, Mr. Lionel Rignold, Mr
H. E. Marston whose father was Governor of
Richmond Prison, Dublin, Mr. Charles Langley,
Miss Katie Ryan, Miss Lottie Harcourt, and many
others but only the first two are still in the land
of the living.

These touring experiences often lead to many
anecdotes, which enliven the hours of travelling
and help to pass off many a weary hour of waiting.
It was of a Scotch manager, too well known for his
protection of the " bawbee," that we used to tell a
good story. He came, saw and admired a panto-
mime in which my friend Tom Murray, an Ameri-
can comedian, had made a huge success. A note
sent round to Murray conveyed the intelligence
that the Scotch manager would like to interview
Turn at his hotel " i' the morn, ye ken." "Now
don't be a fool," cried his dressing-room comrades,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 5^

"he's Scotch and sure to beat you down leave a
margin for retreat, ask a good salary don't make
yourself cheap, etc."

In the morning, Murray, with these admonitions-
ringing in his ears, duly presented himself at the
hotel, and was ushered into the drawing-room;
there awaiting him he found the Scotch manager
whose wife all the time sat in the neighbouring;
bow window knitting crochet. The point of view
was soon explained. Murray's performance the
previous evening had been " much admired " the
manager " might require his services " only
" might " " for the following Christmas," and if
he did so, " what were the lowest terms that he
thought he could accept? " Murray pulled himself
together visioned in his mind the dressing-room
admonitions of the previous evening and said,

" Well, Mr. A , I am afraid that the lowest fee

I could take for next year would be ^200 a week."
The man of Heatherland burst into a huge par-
oxysm of laughter, he shouted his sides out with
merriment, then turning to the bow window to his
wife exclaimed, " Carrie, did ye hear that did ye
hear it Mr. Murray wants two hundred pounds
a week Carrie, he's funnier off the stage than he
is on."

During these touring days one met many curi-
osities of men, modes and manners. It is told of the
late Mr. Wyndham the father of the present living
and popular F. W. Wyndham that he wrote to a
well-known comedian for his lowest terms for
Christmas. These were not days of ^200 comedians
with two gags and a restaurant clientele of bibu-
lous bookmakers and corpulent coryphees ; soon the
reply came back, " My lowest terms for Christmas,
are four pounds per week," so the astonished
manager replied :

DEAR SIR,

Your terms to hand. I accept, as you
are the first comedian who has ever made me laugh.

Yours truly,

R. H. WYNDHAM.



60 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

I myself have had many experiences of these
" sock and buskin " humours when touring. I
was conducting once at Oldham (Owdham) near
Manchester, and could not get the local orchestra
to play a clog dance to time. It must be remem-
Lered that the audiences of all these Lancashire and
Yorkshire towns are themselves expert dancers.
This caused considerable inconvenience to the
dancer, whose evident discomfort was perceptible
to the gallery. In a sudden silence, laughter saved
the situation with this impromptu remark from the
impatient gods : " Hand oop, lads, fur better
band."

In the same town Fannie Leslie, one of London's
greatest " Principal Boy " stars, was late, and
asked me to go into the orchestra and kill time by
looking round and admiring the audience. This I
did for five minutes, when a voice came from the
humorous Olympian heights, " Play oop, beggar
wi' long nose ! "

Another little joke is that of the manager who
toured the towns with spouses who had not always
been provided with marriage certificates. Arrived
at a Northern town once, this Roscian Lothario
drove up to his old-time apartments, knocked at
the door, and jumping out of the cab helped his
" Missis " to the door. " Ah, Mrs Boniface, here
we are again, you know the wife, don't you? My
dear, you remember Mrs Boniface? " By this time
the good lady of the house had automatically em-
braced the "Missis," but exclaimed, "Eh! lady,
how tha's changed." "What's that?" said the
actor. " A wuz only sayin' as 'ow she's changed,

why, Mr F , she's not the same woman." " No,

she's not," was the quick retort, " get us some
dinner."

I have always a fear of " panics " on a first night,
and often wonder how these nervous disturbances
cause more trouble than the actual outbreak of a
fire; so that on the first night of Tennyson's
" Promise of May " at the Globe Theatre, when
" Old Q," the Marquis of (^tieensberry, stood up
in the stalls and protested as an atheist against



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 61

some particular portion of the duologue, which did
not fall in with his views, I approached my old
Bohemian friend quite concernedly, and managed
to quiet him down.

Similarly, when a play by Wilkie Collins, called
" Rank and Riches," was done at the Adelphi, G.
W. Anson, a well-known comedian, came on and
lectured the audience as to their treatment of this
" great author," which brought a protest from Mr.
G. W. Plant, the editor of " Society," a weekly
journal of the time; it took us all some time to
quiet down the house.

It was during this tour that I collected the
material which was unblushingly attached by Mr.
George Moore in his " Mummer's Wife." My early
associations with the Moores of Galway were purely
of a family nature, and when I was thrown among
them in London we became very great friends.
George lived at 3, Danes Itin, and for a time I threw
my lot in with " Dick " Mansel, already referred to
at No. 4 next door. The Moores were doing a ver-
sion of " Les Cloches de Corneville " for F. C.
" Fairlie," otherwise F. C. Phillips, Barrister-at-
law, Novelist and Theatrical Manager, who was
opening a season at the Novelty, that theatre then
called the " Folies Dramatiques," in honour of the
Parisian house where Planquette's opera first saw
the light. For the purpose of adapting the French
words to the English sense (done by the Moores),
it was necessary to have a pianist, and in this way
I was found useful. The clay or night's programme
was generally a dinner at Gatti's or the Tivoli
Restaurant the old site of the present Music Hall
or we met at a little Italian cabaret which stood
on the site of the present Gaiety Theatre ; there till
closing time, we repaired to Danes Inn, and I
"obliged" on the piano till 3 a.m. or 3.30, when
we adjourned for breakfast to one of the early
houses in Covent Garden, and after which retiring
to bed for a similar day and night to follow. Dur-
ing these midnight orgies I admit youth-like that
I talked volubly and possibly in a Bohemian way
decoratively, only to find that every incident in my



62 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

touring life was faithfully reproduced in " The
Mummer's Wife." Almost every character in the
book was a life portrait. Whether we all appre-
ciated our being held up to nature or not in this
fashion is purely a question of opinion.

All I got out of the scheme was a suggestion in
a City paper that I was the original thief who stole
the railway station sandwiches as mentioned in the
book. I had to prosecute an expensive action tor
libel, and the present Mr. Justice Avory succeeded
in getting me a verdict for ^50 which damages I
never recovered.

Derby station in touring days used to be the only
place where a married actor was safe to meet his
wife. All sorts and conditions of " mummers "
crossing country, separated spouses, children,
brothers and sisters, found the Sunday waits some-
times twenty minutes, oftentimes as many hours
the only possible family reconciliation for " months
and months and months."

The manner in which the illegitimate version of
" Les Cloches " came to be done was curious. F.
C. Fairlie was associated with the late Alexander
Henderson in its original production, and when
some disagreement arose at the Globe Theatre, and
Henderson threatened to withdraw the opera, it was
used as a lever by Fairlie that there was some flaw
in the registration, and that the music was " free,"
leaving it open to any person to produce " another
version." Fairlie then commissioned " another
version," by both the Moores, which ultimately
only ran six nights. The strange part of it all was
that H. B. Farnie, who did the original translation,
occupied rooms underneath the Moores and Mansel
in Danes Inn, and for many weeks preceding the
illegitimate production he had to be tortured with
hearing the opera tunes distorted and disfigured
by me on the piano to make them fit the English
lyrics of the Moores, which if successful would have
more or less cheapened his property. It may here
be mentioned that the original copyright in the
work has since been maintained in a Court of haw.
George Moore afterwards tried his hand at a one-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 63

act comic opera, " The Fashionable Beauty," with
music by the present writer, at the Avenue Theatre,
but it only ran about two weeks, and, looking back
on the production, that was about as much as it
deserved. It was a slack-baked effort, at least of
mine, but it served to introduce for the first time
prominently in London as a dancing girl a lady
who in the comedy which preceded it was playing
" Old women character parts " Miss Betty Lind,
who had previously in her own name Miss Rudd
appeared at Drury Lane.

Perhaps some of the most peculiar experiences
that one went through in the earlier days were
those associated with the financing of the musical
entertainments, and none of these was surrounded
with such precarious experiments as the before-
mentioned " Cloches de Corueville " season.

The finance for this production was found by a
Mr. Aubrey Hinds, a young blood, since dead. He
was provided by a money-lending tout named

M , who had a glass eye. It appeared that in

years gone by the tout had been transported to
Australia for fraud, and in prison discovering a
plot against the life of the Governor, he " in-
formed " on the conspirators, as a reward was re-
leased " on leave," and returned to England. He
was followed later on by his two former associates
in jail, who on their liberation also came home,
ran him to earth, and revenged themselves by
gouging out one of his eyes. On this interesting,
if unhandsome personality, we were dependent for
the money for our weekly salaries. One " Treas-
ury " day, when the life insurance was not got
through (which was necessary to a further loan
from the one-eyed exchequer), four dejected people
the late Richard Mansel, the Insurance Company's
Doctor, the Solicitor to the Syndicate, and " Francis
Fairlie " (F. C. Phillips), pursued "the nice young
gentleman " into Bedfordshire for the proper guaran-
tees and medical inspection, without which the
Insurance Company would not complete the policy,
and without which the money-lender would not
advance the monies to pay the poor girls' salaries.



64 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

When the season was over, an action at law arose
against the gilded youth's estate for the recovery
of certain amounts alleged to be due. To save fur-
ther expense, the Trustees tendered a large amount
in Court to stop the action. The plaintiffs, how-
ever, refused this liberal offer, and the Judge ad-
journed the Court for luncheon, and suggested fur-
ther pourparlers with a view to settlement between
counsel. Just as the Court resumed after luncheon,
the Associate handed the Judge a telegram, after
reading which his Lordship said : " The case is at
an end. I have in my hand a telegram informing
the Court that the defendant died just before we
adjourned."

Later on the glass-eyed merchant appeared at the
Old Bailey in another fraud charge, and received
another taste of " Her Majesty's pleasure." As the
jury brought in their verdict of " Guilty," and just
before sentence, some one passed a note to a jury-
man, which evoked all sorts of protests from coun-
sel on both sides as to the propriety of its being
read. Old Sir Thomas Chambers the Recorder
smiled and said he had " no objection " to the note
being read out. With due solemnity the Associate
read out : " The Judge is a bally old fool, and a
friend of the prisoner's." To which old " Tommy "
promptly replied : "I assure you, gentlemen, I
have never seen the prisoner before in my life."
" Not," interrupted counsel for the Crown, " since
you sent him to penal servitude twenty years ago."
(Tableau.)

When the old Evans Rooms were open in Covent
Garden now the National Sporting Club one of
its attractions was a chorus of boys, which more
or less ran concurrently with the boys' chorus in
" Babil and Bijou " at Covent Garden in 1873. In
this collection were two Yiddisher youths, Bower
and Fred Solomon, both of them brothers of Ed-
ward (Teddy) Solomon, who was destined later on
to commence but never to finish a brilliant career.
Two at least of these boys boasted relationship to
the late Napoleon III., through some sort of a Mor-
ganatic liaison not necessary to insist upon. Old



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 65

Charlie Solomon, their father, was a pianist, and
from this source was developed the very great
musicianly gifts of Edward Solomon. Edward
began his professional career as a pianist at the
Old Mogul (Middlesex) Tavern Hall in Drury
Lane. A brilliant executant, he wrote hornpipes
in the stock orchestral book for a shilling each, and
later on emerged from this pewter-pot and sawdust-
floor atmosphere to be Director of Music for Charles
Wyndham, Alexander Henderson and other well-
known West-end managers. He was the first
musical director for " Les Cloches de Corneville "
at the old Folly Theatre (now thrown into Charing
Cross Hospital), and as Shiel Barry the original
miser had lost his voice at the dress rehearsal he
put the identical notes that Barry should have sung
on the first night into the trombone part of Plan-
quette's orchestration.

This effect, simple as it was, made a distinct
success on the first night, and mainly helped
the big scene into this sensational achieve-
ment, although at rehearsal it was predicted " a
failure."

Solomon was one of the cleverest musicians of
the 'Seventies and 'Eighties, but he never " made
good," although he threatened at one time to rival
Arthur Sullivan. He did a lot of clever work,
though beyond gathering cash " deposits " and
securing short runs, he never actually got there.
He was married five times, one of his legitimate
spouses being the handsome Lillian Russell, who
has recently married her fourth spouse. His
pianoforte impromptus were wonderful, and to
charm a hundred pounds or two out of a music
publisher or a theatre directorate was, with him,
as easy as winking. One morning the Alhambra
Board wrote him enquiring if he had an opera
ready, as they wanted one immediately. Of course,
he had. So he wired an eminent librettist :

" Come to Cavour next door to Alhambra lunch
at i. We play our new opera to Alhambra direc-
tors at 3. TEDDY."
c



66 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Now, till Sydney Grundy, the E.L. referred to,
received this wire, the librettist did not know that
they had a new opera ready, and he stated so em-
phatically on arrival at the Cavour. " Never mind
that," said Teddy, "you tell them a story of In-
diansstolen white-facebattlearrival of Ameri-
can rescuers burning at stake spectacular ballet,
and all will be well and the deposit ^200 is
ours."

And so it happened Ted rattled them the
" Grand March of the Sioux Indians over the
Bridge," " The Love Song of the Pale White-face,"
"The Battle in the Forest," "The Grand Ballet
before the Burning at the Stake," and " The Tri-
umphant March at the end for the Rescue." They
were delighted. Henry Sutton, the Chairman, said
it was lovely; Archibald Nagle, the bill-poster, an-
other Director, liked those lovely tunes ; and
General Hale-Wortham, also on the Board, "knew
nothing about music, but thought it all good."
But the only musically educated Director on the
Board, Charles Coote, their specialist, was absent,
so " would Teddy come two days later and let him
hear the opera? " In the meantime, Teddy touched
for ^200 on account of fees for that or any other
opera. Two days later they all met. Henry Sutton
hummed and hah-ed, Nagle did not think it " was
quite so good," and General Wortham said, " It
hardly improved on second hearing " ; Coote said,
" Is this all? " The truth was poor Teddy had for-
gotten every note he had improvised the day pre-
vious, improvised an entirely different work, and
departed the next morning for New York with his
wife and the ^200.

Solomon had a nasty habit of selling a song three
or four times over. One of his very best, " Do
you think that he'll come back don't know," was
sold in turn to Charlie Hawtrey, George Edwardes,
Alma Stanley, W. S. Penley, and E. Ascherberg;
and the morning after he produced " The Red
Hussar " with Marie Tempest for H. J. Leslie, the
gentleman who had made a fortune out of " Dor-
othy," everybody concerned received injunctions



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 67

from people who had already bought it as " The
White Sergeant," or some similar title. But lie
had a fund of melodic wit and an originality in his
orchestration not to be encountered too often in
these declining musical comedy days.

About this time I used to do a lot of work for
Teddie Solomon. I was one of the earliest musical
directors of the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square,
where he placed me in 1885. Solomon, as I have
hinted, threatened at one time to become a rival
to Arthur Sullivan, who had a great appreciation
of his abilities, but he had the misfortune to be
associated with weak libretti. For the last three
years of its existence, I " devilled " the music of
the Guards' burlesque, for Solomon, with which I
assisted at the piano the first time, and the second
time scored nearly all the music. The present Lord
Cheylesmore, Lord Athlumney, Sir Augustus Web-
ster of Battle Abbey (our prominent " Blacked-
guardsman " ; he was one of the Guards' nigger
troupe, and a dapper on the banjo), Colonel George
Nugent, Lord Newton, and others, all made a brave
show which helped charity, enlivened barrack life,
and alas for its reputation ! relieved a dullness
in Society which modern innovations have not
improved to advantage. The Guards were all ama-
teurs, and only in the female roles encouraged pro-
fessionals. I will never forget Major Crompton
Roberts in a " Widow Twankey " part with the
song, " I wasn't a bit like a boy." It was one day,
however, suggested that the late hours kept at the
" Impromptu Cafe Royal " of the Officers' quarters
(where we dined, wined, and chimed till all hours),
and the genial Bohemianism of the entourage, did
not conduce to military discipline, so the following
season, before starting rehearsals, a dear old gentle-
man, Colonel Wigram, had the following notice
posted up in the rehearsal room :

" ONLY LADIES OF GUARANTEED RESPECTABILITY
WILL IN FUTURE BE ALLOWED IN THE BARRACKS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES."



68 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

This did it one more season and the Guards'
Burlesque was a thing of the past.

I never enjoyed myself more than while they
lasted. The rehearsals started after lunch, and con-
tinued till " time to dress for dinner." The chorus
was a sight. About sixteen officers a lord, an
earl, a baron, a knight, a major or two, a few cap-
tains. They came when they liked, wore what they
liked, and sang as they liked. When they shouted
out a comic song, it was not Teddy Solomon's ver-
sion or mine that they sang, it was their own
smoking-room edition, but in the end they pulled
themselves together, and Clement Scott, in the
" Daily Telegraph," ordered Alex. Henderson, H.
B. Farnie, and George Edwardes to go and take a
leaf out of the book of these "very funny people
and give us the same thing in the West End." I
shall never forget when we migrated to Windsor
for three nights, all duly quartered at the White
Hart, how poor old Colonel Wigram, in the front
TOW of the stalls at the Windsor Theatre, leaned
over and stopped poor Kate Yaughan's dance with
these words: "Glover, you're doing it too fast;
now take it from me," and immediately proceeded
to conduct ni}' Band. It was only a band of six,
and we had two first violins Mr. G. W. Byng (now
Musical Director of the Alhambra) and Herman
Finck, in a like position at the Palace.

A great admirer of these festivities was the late
King" Ed ward VII. ; and the Princess Mary of Teck,
mother of the present Queen, patronized every per-
formance, the profits of which if any went to
charity.

Solomon did not live long to enjoy the fruits of
his undoubted genius. He had a horrible habit of
getting married. I mean legally married. He in-
troduced me to at least twelve " Solomon's wives,"
and I can safely say that he had gone through some
sort of marriage ceremony in some country with
at least five of them. His most handsome spouse
was the famous and beautiful Lillian 'Russell. One
day on the stage of a New York theatre, during a
rehearsal of one of his operas, " Lord Bateman,"



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 69

lie started playing his " Silver Line " a beautiful
melody. " I'll leave my home for the composer of
that melody." "Right," said Teddy to the lady
speaker, " let us sail on Saturday." And sail they
did, arriving in England, where they were married,
and were received in open arms by John
Hollingshead, who " presented " both in " Paul and
Virginia," an opera by Solomon and H. Pottinger
Stephens, at the Gaiety Theatre. But through a
procession of wives, concubines, and other attach-
ments, this clever musician wandered till he died
almost unknown, unthought of, and uncared for in
a flat-hovel in Maiden Lane, where at the last
moment I was enabled to do something towards
seeing that he was laid to rest with some sort of
reputable respect.

Apart from my experience with soldiers in the
Guards' Burlesque, my only other experience of
soldier singers, this time of the rank and file, was
in " The Lady of the Locket " at the Empire,
where Henry Hamilton, the author, and Willie
Fullerton, the composer, insisted on some of the
choruses being sung by real guardsmen. It cost
me ten weeks' hard work to teach sixteen soldiers
to render harmonized choruses, and then I took up
the paper one morning to find that the Mahcli had
made " a demonstration," and the regiment with
my choristers was ordered to Egypt. During this
season I had 3 a week. For this I composed the
opening operetta, " Ten Minutes for Refreshment,"
for which I had given an unknown actor, Richard
Mansfield, ins. on account of 3 for the entire
rights, conducted it, later on leading the unseen
choruses of the opera in the first act, then in an
emergency dressed in a Venetian gown, doing a
dance in the second act, what time I chanted these
words :

Oh, we are the Council of Ten,

All truly remarkable men,
And he is the doge a deuce of a doge

And we are the Council of Ten.

The second act finished, I put on evening dress



7 o JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

and conducted the entire ballets of the third act.
It was during this opera that, its fortunes waning,
the services of the late Lord Alfred Paget were
requisitioned to induce the then Prince of Wales
(King Edward VII.) to visit the Empire. The
Alhambra had passed through a thorny licensing
session on its application for a music-hall license,
and the songs of Arthur Roberts were hotly
criticized. The night the Alhambra re-opened,
Roberts sang a great ditty there called " I'm a
"highly respectable Singer." This publicity raised
a doubt as to the class of performance that was
anticipated at the newer house. It first opened
with " Chilperic " by Herve a revival, then fol-
lowed " Polly," by Edward Solomon and " Jimmy "
Mortimer, the once Editor of " The London Figaro,"
a paper subventioned to keep alive the Bonapartist
spirit of Napoleon III. Transferred from the
Noveity, " Polly " shared the programme, with the
fir?, performance in England of the " Coppelia "
ba ! let, and it took us later on into " Pocohontas,"
by Sydney Grundy and Edward Solomon, in which
Mr. Hayden Coffin made his first professional ap-
pearance on any stage. It was agreed that, if the
Prince of Wales came, a sort of matchwood tunnel
should be built to his box to ensure what we were
told was much needed privacy ; this was intimated
to us by Lord Alfred Paget. This was accordingly
done, much to the annoyance of the Royal visitor,
who showed his usual consideration and tact by
not using it, but by mixing among the audience,
and during the interval visiting the golden upstairs
foyer (the first specimen of the new extravagance
in decorative music-hall art), and enjoying a cigar-
ette with Mr. Henry Osborn O'Hagan, the financier
of the concern, the lately-deceased manager, Mr.
H. J. Kitchens, and the late Lord Alfred Paget.

Another quaint experience was on the first night
of this " Lady of the Locket." The final fall of
the curtain brought huge cries of " Coffin, Coffin,
Coffin ! " A wag in the gallery shouted out,
" Rather early to call for the ' Coffin ' to bury the
play after its first performance! "



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 71

Somehow or other, Edward Solomon could not
tolerate Lord Alfred Paget, and as the genial old
gentleman was one day listening to Sydney,
Grundy and Solomon's " Pocohontas," the com-
poser's brother, a diminutive little music-copyist,
went up to his lordship and said : " All the chorus
gentlemen are engaged, but we want an old man
to carry on a pie in the comic scenes."

Solomon, in order to " hold the fort," had forced
" Pocohontas " on to the management, and it was
scored and copied at a white heat. All hands -
friendly and professional were called to the rescue
for copying the music, and many a late night when
we were working we commandeered the popular
composer, Lionel Monckton, to do some parts and
I do know that I always gave the composer of " The
Quaker Girl " the most difficult ones. When the
curtain went up on the first act the parts of the
second act were not dry, and as the show went on
I passed the ink-wet music sheets into the orchestra
for each number.

In this chapter I have mentioned several names
which, judged by later events, demand rather more
importance for anecdotal purposes than seem pos-
sible at first mention. Frank Celli, the Captain
John Smith of " Pocohontas," had a handsome
presence and a fine voice, but over-estimated his
own importance, and had some of the worst vanities
of the star artiste. We all wanted to do honour to
little Charley Alias the costumier in 1886 so it
was arranged to give him a benefit performance of
" Les Cloches de Corneville," with a great cast.
Everybody of note was in the chorus, and Celli was
announced for the rdle of " The Marquis." He
kept the curtain down at this performance a quar-
ter of an hour because Farnie would not make a
personal announcement about his sore throat, a
species of concert-room " swank " very often in-
dulged in. Farnie raved and swore, but all to no
purpose. Now it so happened that four " Cloches
de Corneville " touring companies were just then
" resting," and their respective " Marquises " were
all in the stalls on this occasion, so that when an



72 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

impasse seemed imminent, it was an easy thing
for me to rush through the iron door, ask Farnie
what was " up," and on finding the cause of the
delay find my way to Celli's room. " I refuse to
sing I won't go on I insist," raved Celli. These
were the words which greeted my entrance to the
dressing-room. " Well," I spluttered, " Farnie
says he'll give you three minutes, and in that time
if the curtain is not up, either William Hogarth,"
one Marquis then touring the opera, " John How-
son," the original London Marquis, or " Lithgow
James," the original provincial Marquis, " all of
whom are in the stalls, will be on the stage." Celli
sang.

Two of the " fiddlers " I have mentioned in this
chapter have both pursued their modestly begun
career to havens of great success.

I discovered Mr Herman Finck in my orchestra
of ten at the Comedy, when I was with Charlie
Hawtrey. I removed him to the Palace, and made
him one of the first violinists at 525. 6d. a week, on
the opening night. He is now its excellent music
director, and composer of one of the greatest suc-
cesses of modern times, " In the Shadows."

Finck was a pupil of Henry Gadsb}^'s at the
Guildhall, and deciding to leave Hawtrey at the
Comedy I arranged for him to succeed me. But
some argument arose between the future Palace
music director and annoyed Hawtrey, so much so
that he engaged another chef d'orchestre to follow
me. Finck then came to my rescue in arranging
some band parts for the Palace, and as a reward I
gave him the post just referred to, which led to his
finding his way to his present unique position.

The other Guards' Burlesque fiddler was my es-
teemed friend George Byng.

George Bulkley Byng at the Alhambra was with
my family in Dublin in the 'Seventies ; with me at
Manchester in the 'Eighties. A pupil of my mother
and grandfather, he has found an honourable
haven at the Alhambra. When I wrote two ballets
for the Leicester Square house I found him my best
Iriend.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 73

Another discovery was Allen Gill the oratorio
conductor whom I met periodically on my touring
visits and was my 'cello at Plymouth Theatre
Royal. He says that during one of those casual
visits to that Devonshire town I said to him, " Try
London, don't waste your time here." He took
iny advice, and the result is well known.



CHAPTER IV

About Night Clubs " The New " Hughie Drum-
mond Blundell Maple Sam Lewis " The Gar-
denia " " The Corinthian " closing them up
Police raids " Half world " humour an attempted
suicide The Percy Street Club The Dolaros The
Nell Gwynne A thirty-five pound supper " The
Alsatians" in Oxford Street Electing the members
A " mixed " marriage a " missing " bridegroom
a disgraced bridal gown Early Bohemianism The
Clubs of the 'Eighties Harry Wilson The Jewel
Thief From the Albany to Spinks in Piccadilly via
Paris, St. Petersburg and Monte Carlo A " plant " in
Bond Street A cheque trick Dan Leno The Prince
of Wales sees two performances in one day at the
same Theatre.

I AM not concerning myself with the night resorts
of London of too early a period, but only with
those which came under my ken in the 'Eighties.
The Victorian " Cock and Hen " Club was an in-
stitution which came into existence in the early
days after the 1872 Licensing Acts, the closing of
Cremorne Gardens (now built over in Chelsea), the
Argyll Rooms, and the night-houses of the Hay-
rnarket. They were generally a concession to the
demand of the Bohemians who commenced their
daily lives with supper after the theatre, and were
directly connected with a time when a hotel-ridden
London did not exist, the dinner hour began at 6
o'clock, and the theatre was over at n p.m. Other
chroniclers have told of many of these institutions,
but in the early 'Eighties they sprang up mush-
room-like, with remarkable prodigality, some good,
some bad, some indifferent.
74



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 75

Of the lighter tone was the " New Club " on the
site of Evans' in Co vent Garden now the National
Sporting Club this latter started by Willie
" Shifter " Goldberg, after the closing of the
" Pelican." The New Club, however, as a Cock-
and-Hen institution, tried hard to live on an exclu-
sive coterie. Its secretary was Freddy Wellesley,
related to the Duke of Wellington (he subsequently
married Kate Vaughan) ; and Royalty, chaperoned
by the Duke of Beaufort, and Lord Alfred Paget
(nicknamed " Bangles " owing to his prevalence for
going behind the scenes and presenting ballet girls
with small silver " bangles ") was a constant
visitor. A small band, conducted by an eminent
Italian musician, Signer Dami, discoursed sweet
music, but the Club had too esoteric a clientele for
profit, and when one evening the late Hughie
Druinmond attacked the late Sir Blundell Maple
over a furniture bill (which the Tottenham Court
Road firm had " distrained *' for on the "rich
young banker's " goods and chattels) it was seen
that the mixture of the Upper Ten of Society and
the lower five of Commerce would not work.
" There's the bounder who put the bailiffs in on
my poor old mother," shouted Hughie, and the
Croesus of Tottenham Court Road after an apolo-
getic bow to H.R.H. turned on his heel and left
the room. " Well, Sam, how's money in Cork
Street?" said Maple one night to the well-known
financier. " All right, Blundell. How's clothes-
horses in Tottenham Court Road? " was the quick
reply. Hughie Drummond had a humour which in
those days was considered smart. Personally, I
never laughed even at the vulgarity of standing up
in the Gaiety stall on a first night and frightening
the audience by blowing a police whistle ; or, as
related in another instance, his entering the Pelican
Club and clearing its long bar counter of three
dozen glasses, smashing them on the floor, and
calling for " a whisky and soda." The New Club
subsequently tried artistic dances and private enter-
tainments, but all of no avail.

Of a different class, but distinctly more amusing,



76 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

was the " Gardenia " in Leicester Square, where
" La Goulue " was first introduced to this country
under the management of Dudley Ward, who mar-
ried a sister of the present Lord Esher, and where
an Irish contortionist (La Belle Luceida born in
Limerick) went down on her stomach several times
during tlie evening for a consideration to thread
needles with her eyelashes, a performance she pro-
fessionally gave at the London Pavilion. Here too
a great many subsequently famous " comics " tried
a hand at professional singing before they " topped
the bill," to use the language of the class, at the
principal Halls.

The " Gardenia " succumbed in time to the police,
who were on the alert to try and suppress all night
houses of this description, but they had some diffi-
culty in getting a " case " as the Clubs Registra-
tion Act was not then on the statute-book. I got
the hint early in the day about this raid and pre-
pared to follow it up for journalistic purposes. I
waited outside on the opposite side of Leicester
Square till the police, about midnight, headed by
Tildsley of Vine Street, entered the Inspector ar-
riving at the psychological moment when a lady
was dancing a can-can barefooted, on a table in the
centre of the room, dressed in soiled spangled even-
ing dress with a glass of champagne in one hand,
and conducting the band with the other. One by
one the habitues were led to understand that they
were under arrest, and all filed out to Vine Street,
each in charge of a constable, but as they passed
through, were forced to call out to the recording
officer their name, description and address.

"Polly So-and-so, Actress"; "Minnie So-and-
So, Actress "; " Cissie So-and-So, Milliner," and so
it went on " milliner " " actress " " actress "
" milliner " to tiresome iteration, till the ninth or
tenth demi-mondaine stirred by the untruthfulness
of her colleagues, when the officer said : " What
are you? " replied as follows : " I'm no bally act-
ress or milliner you bloomer otherwise what
would I be doing out here doing a high-kicker show
in low-necked dress at this hour of the morning? "



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 77

I hurriedly drafted out two columns headed :
" Come into the Gardenia, Maud " for the morning
papers and the old place was no more. One
habitue, whose sense of shame was suddenly
awakened by her arrest under such questionable
circumstances, was so upset at her name appearing:
in the papers the next morning, that on the follow-
ing Sunday she threw herself off Kingston Bridge
into the Thames, but was happily rescued and the
experience having taught her a lesson, she married,
settled down, and has been happy ever since.

" The Corinthian " in York Street, St. James',
was next tried by John Hollingshead then retired
from the Gaiety Theatre, and a huge army of real
actresses, all in the front line of comic opera, were
elected as honorary members. It would not be lair
to mention their names but the " genuine " article
would not stop up night after night, for the accom-
modation of an expensive wine list, and so the
other sort of " actress " came along and continued
its vacillating fortunes, until two neighbouring
householders swore an information under what is
called " Scot and Lot law," and the police shut it
up. A prosecution followed, and the Club was
finished. It was at this Club, when the famous
" Pas de Quatre " was in vogue, that the Barn
Dance was invented a term then borrowed from
America, but topically appropriate at the time, the
male clients being all members of the new Barn
Club, started at the back of the Comedy Theatre
by Sir Robert Peel and others another unsuccess-
ful attempt to replace the old "Pelican."

The Percy Street Supper Club was one of the
most respectably conducted of these nocturnal re-
sorts, frequented as to its female membership by a
class of light-o'-love that was ashamed to be asso-
ciated with the commoner throng, and yet wanted
some supper resort. It was run by " Ti " Dolaro
" Belasco," husband of the beautiful Selina Dolaro,
who made all London ring in the 'Seventies, and a
relation of the late David " James " Belasco of
" Our Boys " fame. The prices were modest, the
food was good, and the smoking concerts often



7 8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

boasted of names now high in the professional
world. It is strange how these night Clubs were
resorted to by many artistes to try their songs " on
the dog " as the saying goes.

Other resorts of a like kind were " No. n," in
Regent Street, the " Waterloo " and " The Nell
G wynne " a subterranean suite in Long Acre (said
to have been patronized by Sweet Nell of Old
Drury, but certainly often visited by " Sweet Jim "
of Old Drury) ; the " Palm," in Oxford Street, and
the " Spooferies " in Maiden Lane. All these es-
tablishments were kept open until 4 or 5 a.m.
The programme at each was much about the same.
A handful of musicians, twenty or thirty members,
women of a more or less interrogative reputation,
a respectable music-hall serio or two, a few hand-
some blondes or brunettes, principally the mis-
tresses or housekeepers of commercial and young-
blooded London, who, if they were seen in well-
known resorts would " lose their boys," and who
came into these so-called " Clubs " for a dance, a
drop and a feed, with the knowledge that their
particular protectors could not easily detect them
and that the class of frequenters they encountered
could not give them away in their " boys " sets.
A supper to a popular music-hall " serio " one
night given by a banker's son cost thirty-five
pounds a head for ten people. The " Mug " paid
for the champagne by corkage, and as he viewed
at 4 a.m. the battalion of " dead 'uns," he won-
dered that so few could have in so short a time got
rid of so many.

The male clientele was recruited from actors,
musicians, book-makers, music-hall artistes, all of
whom contributed to the impromptu entertainments
which were such a strong feature of the night's
programme. Rows often happened in their early
cups a bottle flew, a scrimmage took place, a
jealous " inamorata " accosted a lady friend, per-
sonal recriminations often ensued, but it was all
settled with a forgiving good humour, which, if it
was vulgar in its Bohemianism, was nearly always
honest in its sincerity. The last of these houses



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 79

to go under was " The Alsatians " in Oxford Street.
This was run by a man named Harding Moore, and
of all the people who dealt in this shady sort of
business, he knew his work best. On Oxford and
Cambridge nights the scramble by " non-members "
to get in was riotous. " We're Cambridge men,"
they shouted one night. " Yes," said Moore, " I
can hear it." "But can't we come in?" " No,,
not unless you become members." "What rot! "
" Yes it is, but I can't see you all rushing into the
witness-box to-morrow morning at Marlborough
vStreet to give evidence in my favour if I am raided
to-night! " It was right opposite my bachelor's
quarters in Oxford Street, and as the food was ex-
cellent I often visited it for a belated supper (with-
out always patronizing the " Salle de danse ") what
time my duties kept me late at the theatre. I will
now give the form of procedure : Young gent
arrives with lady not a member sorry must go
before committee, but on deposit of subscription,
lady and gentleman can go in. Deposit for gentle-
man five guineas entrance and five guineas sub-
scription. Lady three guineas thirteen guineas
to get a bit of supper !

Just about the Spring-time the proprietor started
" Our Alsatian House-boat Club " at Hampton;
Court. Glorious fun. Beautiful week-end facilities.
No questions asked. Subscription, two guineas ;
lady five, the whole course twenty guineas. I
have seen this farce come off dozens of times in any
given week. An incident in the life of this institu-
tion, for it was an institution, was vividly im-
pressed on my mind. A lady member of easy
morality had an annuity of 600 a year. She fell
in love with a handsome but penniless young"
Guardsman and he with her; in the end he offer-
ing her wedlock. She arranged a wedding at St.
George's, Hanover Square. His family, shocked,
protested all to no purpose. The eve of the wed-
ding his bachelor friends suggested a farewell
dinner at the Cafe Royal at 7.30. Dined, wined
and primed well at 11.30 he was hopelessly in-
toxicated. They drove him to Euston Station on



8o JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

a pretence, placed him in a first-class sleeper, hav-
ing previously taken a ticket to Aberdeen, gave
the guard a fiver with instructions that if the pas-
senger, who was booked to Aberdeen, did not wake
up till twelve the next day, he (i.e. the guard)
would have another similar donation. This art-
fully-arranged programme came off. The wedding
bells at vSt. George's, Hanover Square, tolled in
vain. The lady, disappointed and dejected, went
back to the Continental Hoted, dined, whined and
pined and then went on to the Empire Theatre in
her costume de noces, where she was the admired
of the promenade for the evening. After which she
wended her way back to the Continental Hotel for
supper and wound up at i a.m. at the Alsatian
Club ; she played kiss-in-the-ring with a horde of
her lady friends, who deliberately and intentionally
tore every stitch of her wedding costume to shreds
till she stood in the middle of the floor as nude as
Eve in the Garden of Eden. A borrowed dress, a
much over-wined woman, and a group of " sym-
pathisers " was all that remained of an incident
which I think is almost Balzacian in its reality.
This incident has on more than one occasion been
anticipated by the game of " spoof " in the old
spooferies in Maiden Lane. " Spoof " is not a very
intellectual form of humour, but there are many
who remember its votaries, and its victims.

Two of the most frequent supporters of the
Supper Club were a celebrated comedienne and her
at one time ducal admirer.

The Duchess of course naturally objected to the
attentions of the comedienne, and hearing that his
Grace's insolvency was quoted as a reason for his
indulgence in such unsavoury society a curious
sequitur, it will be admitted the following corres-
pondence took place :

" The Duchess of presents her compliments

to Miss Bessie B and wishes to state that if she

will allow the Duke of to return to his own

"home, the Duchess will pay all his debts and allow
him 20 a week."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK Si

7o which the comedienne replied :

" Miss Bessie B presents her compliments to

thf Duchess of and begs to state that she is

nov working the Pavilion, the Met., (i.e. Metro-
politan Music Hall) and the South London, at 20
a tvrn, so she can allow the Duke 30 a week and
he is 50 a week better off as he is."

Ot.ier and more authoritative pens have dealt
with this side of the general Bohemianism of Lon-
don, but it was at its height in the 'Eighties and
has been declining ever since. Flat life, motor life,
week-end life, all this has destroyed the owl life of
London. To go into the older clubs and be told the
same old stories by the same old fogeys over and
over again, cannot now be offered as an attraction
to the neophyte in Town. The morose Arthur
Mathison, the cheery " Poet of the Strand," H. S.
Leigh, whose " Carols of Cockayne " will ever live
all such-like Bohemians, with an exception here
and there, have passed away. When I first joined
the battalion, we generally ended at Hart's or
Rockley's now Hummum's early coffee-house in
Covent Garden, which opened at 3 a.m., and gave
us beautiful breakfasts of ham and eggs. Here,
H. J. Byron, David James, George and Augustus
Moore, the Brothers Mansel (who first brought
comic opera to this country in " Chilperic " at the
Lyceum) and poor Bill Terriss, who afterwards
bought one licensed house, Hart's, as a speculation,
E. J. Odell, F. C. Phillips (" As in a Looking-
Glass,") and hundreds of others all pass my
memory in jape and quip. The modern hotel and
the greater journalism have helped to swamp small
personalities, but the smug hospitality of these
simple surroundings nursed giants in every art on
a more liberal scale than exists now.

Perhaps one of the more noted West-end per-
sonalities of the last twenty-five years, is the
genial, good-hearted, clever Harry Wilson of Bow
Street, who just came on the scene when George
Lewis retired from his personal attention to the



82 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Criminal Bar at "The Courts of First Instance."
There are few men who are held in such esteem bv
the Bar, Bench and Brotherhood as the popular
lawyer, whose fund of anecdote, if he could ever
publish a book, would make the country laugh
at least, that part of it which did not quiver. One
good story for I knew the man will suffice. A
client had lost some valuable heirloom jewels, ind
no matter what the cost, insisted on Harry person-
ally pursuing the thief. So off to Paris went our
friend to find the bird had flown to Russia. So,
later on we found him on his Sherlock Holmes
quest, hundreds of miles in the land of kummel,
caviare and vodka, and then back to the South of
France, where he discovered some of the jewels in
a Monte Carlo mont de piiti. But there was one
more valuable jewel than the rest, and he had in-
structions not to return without it. Now, Wilson
was armed with warrants of search from Ministers
of Justice and all other necessary " Open sesames "
to official red-tape ; so he ran his quarry to earth
in a French county jail where he was detained
awaiting trial on another matter. This particular
mobsman was a rare London midnight oil bird ;
dressed with Silver King " spider "-like correct-
ness, he patronized the stalls of every theatre and
music-hall, dined at the Savoy, boxed at the Em-
pire, finishing up his evenings at one of the many
night Clubs. We all knew him by his Christian
name " Frank," without any hint as to his real
identity; and he addressed us equally familiarly.
So, when Harry Wilson was ushered into the cell
in the French prison, the following conversation
took place :

"Oh! is it you, Harry? I know what you're
here for those jewels; but not a single one will
you get till you do something for me." Then he
pulled out his watch.

" Now, this is a serious matter," insisted the
man of law.

" Serious be blowed ! " shouted the caged
criminal. " Well, it's now ten o'clock and I won't
budge a word, or give the slightest information,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 83

until five, up to which time you've got to sit on
tiat stool and tell me all about London. Do the
S.me girls go- to ' The Alsatians ' ? Have you been
to the Cafe Royal lately ? Does So-and-So go
^here still ? etc. What's the new ballet like at the
Empire ? Out with it all ! Here am I, caged up
in this cubicle, and all you chaps are having a
deuce of a time in London, and I'm not in it. Own
up, Harry, own up ! "

Wilson was adamant, but all to no purpose, till
he promised that if a clean breast was made of the
whole affair, he would not disclose the list of " pre-
vious " convictions with the local police, who would
have used it in the forthcoming trial for which he
was then detained.

This brought things to a climax.

" I've been three weeks trying to find the rest
of those jewels," continued Mr Wilson. " I've
scoured all Paris, ransacked Russia, turned Monte
Carlo inside out, and can't get a clue. Where are
they? "

" At Spink's, in Piccadilly! " triumphantly cried
the jail-bird. And so it came about. Wilson took
his instructions in the Albany and had to travel all
over Europe to find something which all the time
was at Spink's a few yards lower down.

In some of the lower dens which were often
visited by the police, one met many people with
strange careers. The wife of a swell " crook " I
knew was a good American Roman Catholic. She
was in a convent school, and on a mission of
charity took her ^urn to visit the local jail to talk
hope to the prisoners. This was a charitable duty
gone through regularly by the Sisters of Mercy,
who instructed the pupils in their Christianlike
work by these personal excursions. Under these
circumstances, the new pupil fell desperately in
love with a " detenu " a handsome " bank " man.
A " bank " man is an aristocrat. No pickpocket
watch-snatching or small theft for him. He has a
tone of his own. Nothing under a " Bank " or a
big " Bond " coup will engage his Attention. Her
father was the Governor of the State, and she used



84 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

her influence with him to procure the fellow's re-
lease. A runaway match her husband's return ro
his old games, and a life of misery followed. Sepa-
rated from him for many years, he turned up in
London and avowed repentance, and a wish to lead
an honest life. She gave in and returned to him,
in the meantime she having adopted an orphan
whose fourteenth birthday was imminent. On the
very morning of this event he signified his inten-
tion of ordering a birthday present for the little
one, and the husband and wife repaired to a big
"Bond Street jeweller's, up to the door of which
they drove in a previously-ordered sw r ell equipage.
The wife suspected nothing. Years of weary wait-
ingshe had credited her husband's return and
professed honesty as a fait accompli.

" I want a little diamond ring as a birthday pres-
ent for this little girl." Such were the first words
addressed to the obliging assistant behind a counter
of jewels.

" Certainly," replied the elated shopman, who
displayed two or three trays of glittering gems.
A hurried survey, a few gems taken up and cast
away disdainfully, a reference or two to the little,
girl that was all the " benevolent " gentleman
essayed to do for the moment.

" Yes no I don't like these. Perhaps a bangle,
now, would be more suitable for the child. Could
you show me some ? "

Immediately the wife gave a huge shriek, which
drew an excited crowd to the window, in front of
which she swooned on the floor, falling an insen-
sible mass of quaking flesli. Doctors were sent for,
restoratives applied, and in the end the woman was
taken to the carriage and driven home. She was
soon brought to her senses.

" You are a silly ass," interjected her husband.
" You spoiled the best haul I could have had for
many a long day."

She saw the dodge. She opined that her hus-
band's old traits had returned he could not resist.
The attendant's attention once diverted, the rings
would have been " palmed." A similar ruse to this



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 85

in a jeweller's shop marks the first act of " The
Great Ruby " as fine a Drury Lane drama as
ever was.

I saw a cheque trick at Bow Street once, which
will put to shame any incident introduced in any
play. A solicitor had a client a friend of his
wife's who for many years had " housekeeped "
for a bachelor old gentleman, who died intestate.
Any thought of an allowance for the lady friend
was out of the question ; but in view of the fact that
she had devoted many years of her life to his care
and consideration, they allowed her ^300 and So
for small tradesmen's debts she had incurred on his
behalf. The man of law, when he got the cheque,
saw that it was made out to the lady herself, and
he had determined that she was not going to get it
all ; so he informed her that he had been successful
in getting her ^180, and if she would call at his
private house and dine with him, he would cash
the cheque. In the meantime, he had noticed that
the draft was on his own bank, drawn on a form
of exactly similar size; so he had a second cheque
made up for the lesser sum and slightly gummed
to agree with the edges all round. This he placed
right over the genuine document, and, inviting the
lady into his study after dinner, turned the pre-
pared cheque over with a quick " Please endorse
this on the back." He immediately handed her
180.

Of course it will be seen that she had really
endorsed the cheque for ^380, which later on he
detached, destroying the top forgery. The price of
this little bit of drawing was eighteen months' hard
labour.

Dan Leno and his wife first came to Drury Lane
on a joint weekly salary of ^28 ; on his death, his
own salary was ^240. Now, as a matter of fact,
this is not so extravagant. It reajly only works
out at .20 a performance, and there are many ar-
tistes who will only sing two songs at a concert for
;8o. Leno's golden asset was the domesticity of
his humour." He took the ordinary things of daily
life and wrote, or gagged, round them. He never



S6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

knew his part on a first night, and never learnt his
songs. Once he sang a song on Boxing Night
entirely at variance with every note of the melody
in the band parts. How the house yelled and
screamed with delight! "How like Dan! " they
shouted. In early days of Harris, when the re-
hearsals dragged on to five o'clock in the morning,
I once saw the little man sprawling on the floor on
a Christmas Eve trying to write a cheque for 3000
to offer to Sir Augustus Harris to allow him to
break off the engagement.

" I have just come from the Mint," said Augus-
tus, one night, "and here's some new money for
luck, Dan ; one for you, and one for the wife, and
how many children have you? "

" Five."

" One two three four five."

" But," said Dan, " there's another on the road."

"Oh," said Harris, "you're a terrible man! "

" Well, Sir Augustus," quickly retorted Leno, " I
don't smoke."

He once booked a concert with me at Bexhill and,
knowing his forgetfulness, I sent him an early
wire

" You leave Victoria at eleven, arrive at one, and
show at three. Lunch with me." GLOVER.

to which he sent this reply

" Buy another knife and fork. Bringing -wife/'
LENO.

A good theatrical story of the late King, when
Prince of Wales, shows the exact amount of interest
he took in anything on which he set his ~uind,
When he started the Prince of Wales' Hospital
Fund, Henry Lowenfeld saw that it wanted a fillip,
so he made the following diplomatic suggestion to
high quarters :

" My theatre is the Prince of Wales' Theatre.
H.R.H. has never been to any one theatre twice in
one day. If he will so honour me by coming on
Saturday to ' A Pierrot's Life ' in the afternoon,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 87

and ' The White Silk Dress ' on the same evening,
I will, within twenty-four hours, send a cheque for
five thousand pounds to his Hospital Fund."

The Prince was not slow to capture for his pet
charity such a big fish ; so that on Saturday the
dual Royal event came off, and on the next night,,
Sunday, Charlie Levilly (Lowenf eld's manager) and
myself dined at Gatti's and walked down to the-
" Daily Telegraph " office in Fleet Street with the
promised five thousand pounds.



CHAPTER V

-Restaurant London A few sketches The Brothers
Gatti Romano s Trie end or Romano's .Bar its
varied clientele Phil May His early life A few
corrections ' Phil " As drawn by himself Romano's
death Mr. Alfred de Rothschild pays four guineas
a bottle for brandy Charlie Hawtrey and tile new

cashier The Marchioness of H and the frustrated

Guardsman's wedding D'Oyly Carte and the Liverpool
band.

THERE is no development which has been more
marked in my time than Restaurant London.
" Pagani's," in Great Portland Street, still existent,
is not the same in its marbled splendour as the old
.haunt where Pellegrini decorated its walls with his
wonderful brochures, even as Caruso does now.
One remembers how " Ape," to whom the Rev.
White, Chaplain of the vSavoy, would not sit for a
'" Vanity Fair " " Man of the Day," went to Com-
munion at the little church down Savoy Hill in
order to thumbnail his features. Then there were
the Cafe Royal, in its olden days, when the exiled
Henri Rochefort led a coterie of Parisian sym-
pathizers, and others, when Michael Maybrick
(Stephen Adams) afterwards the Mayor of Ryde,
Isle of Wight George Grossmith, senior, N. Vert,
Hans Richter, Hollman the 'cellist, " Faustin,"
" Jimmy " Mortimer of " The Figaro," and dozens
of others, made the "aperitif" hour a matter of
infinite interest ; Gatti's Adelaide Gallery, with the
Brothers Agostino and Stephano never missing,
attended by George R. Sims, Henry Pettit, Robert
"Buchanan and Augustus Harris ; and the Gaiety
88



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 8g,

Bar (christened " Prosser's Avenue ") by a comic
singer, named Fred Hughes.

There were no two personalities more justly popu-
lar in the Bohemian and theatrical world than the
Brothers Gatti, whose father and uncle first estab-
lished the restaurant business at Hungerford Hall,,
now the site of Charing Cross Station. Here the very
first of the restaurant orchestras, conducted by an
Italian named Benvenuti, was started by the Gattis.
When the station was built at Charing Cross, the-
Gattis moved to the Adelaide Gallery, where bil-
liards and chess were the mainstays of the trade till
the later and longer hailed restaurant development
asserted itself and bored its way through in all
directions to the Strand. It really is wonderful
how these two charming good fellows of Swiss
nationality, but later naturalized Britons became
such potent factors in the musical world, for in
1873 they ran some of the finest promenade con-
certs that one could wish to hear at Covent Garden,,
with Jules Riviere as conductor. And later on
Arthur Sullivan, Alfred Cellier, and F. H. Cowen,
recently knighted, all ascended the conductor's
" pupitre " with general success. The Gattis first
entered the amusement business through sharing in
the catering department, which led to their pro-
ducing some very fine pantomimes at the Royal
Opera House, this taste for theatrical manage-
ment leading later on to the Adelphi, at which
theatre they were associated in the long succession
of Sims-Pettit dramas, which for their financial suc-
cess and rough, honest, artistic work have not been
equalled. The Gattis afterwards purchased the
Vaudeville Theatre, and subject to sub-leases and
tenancies these houses are still in the possession
of the family.

Then there was the Criterion Bar, which attained
an unenviable notoriety in the old days for encour-
aging a class of " Sportsman " who is now happily
defunct, or at least has become such a scattered
personality that he is barely recognizable. G. H.
Macdermot, " the Great " Lion Comique, focussed
such attention on this division in a song called



90 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

" Captain Criterion," that the song was suddenly
withdrawn.

Darmstatter's (next door to Romano's) ; the
Albion, which was closed in 1892 this latter one
of the old Drury Lane landmarks, these were a few
of the Bohemian haunts, some of which have passed
away, and some have, Phoenix-like, risen in greater
splendour. "Jimmy's," the old "St. James"
(now the " Piccadilly ") was a feature in itself. It
sheltered everything that was blase, bella-donna-ed,
and often beautiful in the lower strata of female
Bohemianism. It filled a long-felt want; it occa-
.sionally filled Vine Street. Its closing hour made
Piccadilly lively with that peculiar mixture of
"human frailty and London " Tom and Jerry-ism "
which used to be one of the West-end sights of
London for the average " young man up from the
country." The great occasions for riot and rollick
were Oxford and Cambridge, Derby, or other festive
.anniversaries. All this is now happily changed,
and the West End at night is now possible of traffic
for any respectable citizen without molestation or
" mafficking."

One by one the landmarks of the old Bohemian-
ism of the 'Seventies and 'Eighties passed away, as
I have mentioned, unregretted, unhonoured, un-
sung; but not thus the fate of Romano's. Except
for a few bars of a faintly-sung " Auld Lang Syne,"
in the early hours of a Saturday morning in June,
1910, the bar portion of this famous Strand Res-
taurant passed into the eivigkeit, and, save for a
subterranean substitute in the grill-room, dis-
appeared in its old historical form, " never to be
heard of again." In this wise, it followed prece-
dent. Romano's is one of the few survivors of the
vanishing group of esoteric clienteles which cotn-
-menced to go with the abolition of the Albion in
Drury Lane and the old Occidental in the Strand
(now the site of Terry's Theatre), the former pro-
prietor of this latter house, Charles Wilmot, migra-
ting to Islington, where he built the first suburban
theatre the Grand. The Gaiety Bar was moved to
the other side of the road by an improving County



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 91

Council, and has since been converted into offices-
for the Mariconi System. The " Gorgonzola Hall "
which definition was given to the beautiful Adelphi
Restaurant by " Dagonet " now shelters the per-
manent London Publicity Bureau of a British
Colony. This was once one of the most frequented
of Bohemian houses, with its huge marble pillars
like so many blocks of " Gorgonzola " cheese
hence the nickname referred to above.

" Romano's " had a curious history. In the late
'Seventies, a little Italian, named Romano, mi-
grated from the Cafe Royal at Regent Street and
opened, next door to one Darmstatter, a worthy
restaurateur the now famous house in the Strand.

The original caravanserai was not a very preten-
tious establishment merely a few tables all down
the one side of a long corridor, and a passage down
the other to reach which the customers had to
traverse the " brasserie " department, once famous,
for its small aquarium in the window and a couple
of goldfish, which were the subject of occasional
humours at the lips of the local wits, who scintil-
lated in the company of the aperitif patron.

And what customers they were ! Dukes, mar-
quises, baronets, racing-men, owners, jockey s,.
journalists, popular composers, etc., with the creme
de la creme of the theatrical profession. It was
here that the late D'Oyly Carte and his one-time
Savoy partner, Michael Gunn, daily discussed the
Gilbert and Sullivan problems over a " filet a la
Romano " and a bottle of wine. It was here that
"Teddy Solomon" and "Pot" Stephens hatched
their "Billy Taylor" and "Claude Duval "pos-
sible oppositions to the Savoy, and where Alfred
Cellier celebrated the operatic success of his life
(" Dorothy ") on his return from Australia, to find
that it was his formerly-produced-at-Manchester
opera, " Nell Gwynne," with another libretto by
B. C. Stephenson. H. B. Farnie and Cellier wrote
" Nell Gwynne " for Boston Brown at the Prince's
Theatre, Manchester, in the 'Sixties, and it proved
a fearful failure. Farnie modestly attributed the
result to Cellier's music ; Cellier, on the other hand,.



92 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

retaliated that the non-success was due to Farnie's
libretto. So this artistic liaison sought a literary
and musical divorce, and Farnie found Robert Plan-
quette, the " Cloches de Corneville " composer, to
wed another score to " Nell Gwynne," while Cellicr
found B. C. Stephenson to attach another libretto
to his music " Dorothy." Cellier was evidently
right, for as all the world knows " Dorothy " was
a huge success, ran for years and made a fortune
for all concerned, while " Nell Gwynne " spluttered
out at the Avenue merely a " succes d'estime."

Many others of like artistic fame found Romano's
to their daily liking, and associated themselves
with the history of this edition de luxe of a Bohe-
mian restaurant, before we ever heard of Savoys,
Cecils, Ritzs, ct Hoc genus omnc.

It was here that poor Phil May was to be seen
daily as he commenced the London portion of that
brilliant career, which was ended in such a tragic
fashion.

So many biographies have been written about my
dear old friend, Phil May, and so many inaccuracies
about his original start in life, that a few words
ma}^ not be out of place as to his earlier beginnings,
and our first meeting in 1881. Phil, of course, \vas
a Leeds man, and like his great admirer, Arthur
Collins, spent some time as an apprentice in theatre
paint-rooms, in his case at Wilson Barrett's Grand
Theatre in his native town of Leeds. At that time
I was touring with " Don Juan Junior," a Royalty
burlesque managed by Miss Kate Lawler a niece
of Mr. J. Warden, an old Dublin and Belfast acting-
manager. Miss Lawler, "en premiere noces,"
became a Mrs. Moon ; her sister Annie married a
Mr. Archie Keene, a solicitor, brother to Mr. Fred
Kerr, the well-known histrion. A friend of Phil's,
the present writer, and the black-and-white artist,
all three fell in love with a beautifiil girl, and at
the time both our fears were that Phil would do us
In at the wedding post on account of his facility for
painting his love epistles with humorous thumb-
nail sketches. I tried music notes, but to no pur-
pose. The other fellow tried some rough drawings



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 93

(he, too, had a two-tie brush affection), but Phil
for a time put our noses out of joint.

Personally, I did not preserve these earlier Phil
Mays, but my old friend, Fred Storey, who was
a member of the company, possesses an 1882
impression of Phil by himself, and also a
facsimile of the kind of envelope decoration to
which I have referred, and a series of thumbnail
sketches in which Phil himself, J. L. Toole, Irving
and vStorey figure.

To continue about Romano's. In music-hall song
and West-end burlesque the little house soon "be-
came famous ; for in addition to Gaiety burlesque
references, Saville Clarke in his unique " Adamless
Eden " skit, music-hall stars of the Vance and
George Leybourne calibre, and others, brought the
Strand Bohemian resort to the front, and the charm-
ing Sisters Leamar were wont nightly to inform
all and sundry that something happened at " Ro-
ma-no's, as Papa knows."

The older resort some years ago was burnt down,
and there was erected a" larger and more commo-
dious establishment, which gradually caught hold
of a new Bohemian clientele, encompassing much
that is popular in the new Bohemianism in West-
end fashion, and what an American writer de-
scribed as " the best shirt-fronted brigade in
Europe."

Romano died more or less suddenly. He had
" organized " for himself a grand dinner at 3 a
head, and to it came all his friends wine mer-
chants, cigar merchants, and others. It was a great
night; but the aftermath to the proprietor was
Kensal Green. When put to realization, the res-
taurant fetched ^70,000, mainly through the good
offices of the solicitor, Harry Wilson, and the exe-
cutor. The cellars (" the best in London," as the
" Roman " had it) realized ^20,000 of this, as well
they might; for Mr. Alfred de Rothschild thought
it worth his while to pay four guineas a bottle for
some of the 1789 brandy.

When poor Romano rebuilt the house, on its
opening night, Charlie Hawtrey had a couple of



94 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

friends to supper, and in paying tendered a ten--
pound note, out of which the cashier gave him
change for a fiver. Hawtrey protested, and after
many expostulations the little Roman came up to
the actor's table profuse in his apologies to the in-
dignant custor.'.< r. "It make-a me vera sorry
Missa Hawtrey you know-a the difficulty of a re-
opening what-a you call-a new staff, and worse -a
of all what you call-a new cashier." "No,
Romano," replied Hawtrey, " same old cashier,"
and out he walked.

Many a match between peer and peri has been
hatched at the little house in the Strand, but the
indiscretion of a couple of footlight fairies in th^
early 'Eighties frustrated a wedding which should
at that time have caused what the papers call " a
mild sensation." A friend of the Dowager
Marchioness of supping one night found him-
self entertaining the two coryphees referred to, and
in the quaffing of wine one of the ladies rather in-
cautiously suggested the drinking of Flossie's, her
companion's, health as to-morrow " on the quiet
don't you know at the Registry Office " she was

to wed young Lord only sou of Dowager

Marchioness - - at present in the Guards. This
was a facer to the friend of the family, so he paid
the bill and midnight found him knocking at the
portals of the Marchioness' residence in Pont Street
demanding an audience. The butler protested, the
friend of the family insisted, and when at i a.m.
he did interview her Ladyship it was only the im-
portance of the message which assuaged her anger
at being roused up at such an unseemly hour.
Drastic measures had to be resorted to, and at
eight the following morning an anxious mother
waited on the Colonel of the young benedict's bat-
talion, and for some reason or other that did not
evince itself till later on, that young Lieutenant
was placed under arrest and confined to barracks
for three days. The wedding did not come off.

One of Romano's strongest supporters was
D'Oyly Carte, particularly when the Savoy was
opened it being found much more convenient to



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 95

the new house. Carte often laughed when I re-
minded him of the following story.

At Liverpool in the 'Seventies he was conducting
Lecocq's "La Fille de Madame Angot " ; in the
second act he lost his temper and made a depre-
catory remark to the band. They immediately
struck, and refused to finish the opera. The late
H. J. Loveday, Sir Henry Irving's manager, whose
wife, Miss Elinor Loveday, was one of the original
" Josephines " in " H.M.S. Pinafore," was the local
musical director, and being in the theatre he
immediately went down into the band room, and
remonstrated with the musicians, but all to no pur-
pose. The audience were clamouring, the stage
waiting, and it looked like returning the money to
the public, when Loveday said : " Will you finish
the opera with me as your conductor ? " Loud cries
of "Oh, yes, certainly, governor! " and the last
act of " Angot " was conducted, not by D'Oyly
Carte, but by H. J. Loveday.

When the band filed out after that evening's per-
formance the following notice appeared on the hall
board :

" The members of the Alexandra Theatre Or-
chestra are informed that their services will not be
required after this evening.

" H. J. LOVEDAY."

This, of course, was the only way to deal with
the matter.

D'Oyly Carte had a penchant at this time for
writing one-act pieces nearly always to the lib-
retto of his then secretary, Frank Desprez, now the
excellent editor of " The Era." One of these little
ballons d'essai was called " Happy Hampstead,"
and was played a good deal during this tour.



CHAPTER VI

First experience as a Journalist In Dublin " Ire-
land's Eye" "Dick" Dowling -Edwin Hamilton
Richard "Pigott The "Times" forger Paris The
Moores (; The Hawk " Its distinguished Staff J.
Huntly McCarthy, James Runciman, Fred. Green-
wood, Clement Scott, G. Bernard Shaw, A. B.
Walkley, R. S. Hichens, Charles Williams and F. H.
Gribble Changing "The Bat" to "The Hawk"
How we were Financed Libels at Bow Street The
policy of Libel Actions Jimmy Whistler and the
Drury Lane row The new halfpenny journalism
How Lipski was hanged Chester Ives and the Par-
nell-0'Shea divorce T. P. O'Connor "The Sun"
Kennedy Jones, etc. The Kennedy Jones prophecy
Gladstone Labby " The Evening News " and an
all-night vigil for " Truth " pulls The Clement Scott
debacle Its early history " Willy " and the cab
story About Lord Russell of Killowen The thieves
at my Hampton Court residence First-night stories
How Lord Randolph Churchill resigned as a Cabinet
Minister.

I FIRST became allied to journalism at the age of
fourteen when advertising a dramatic club
which had been started in my father's coach-house
in Dublin, with an impromptu theatre and scenery
painted by a budding young English theatre artist
just then arrived, named Bruce Smith. And thirty
years after he is painting the scenery and I am
painting the music for Drury Lane's productions.
I wrote dramatic paragraphs and gained publicity
by appeals to three friendly quarters Tom vSexton
in " The Nation," Edwin Hamilton and Richard
Dowling in " Ireland's Eye," two Dublin comic
weeklies, and Richard Pigott in "The Irishman."
96



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 97

The first soon became one of the greatest nationalist
orators of the fighting 'Eighties; the second a
learned lyrist and pantomime author, now retired
in the north of Ireland ; the third a leading novelist ;
and the fourth, the suicide forger of the famous
concocted letters, which occasioned the Parnell
Commission. The last time I saw Pigott was in
the witness box the day before he absconded from
pending prosecution, and the last time I saw Par-
nell was on the day after, when he turned round
Wellington Street and briskly walked with George
Lewis (now Sir George) to Bow Street to obtain a
warrant for the forger's arrest.

Bowling was a real wit. One day we were all
four Bowling, Edwin Hamilton, J. Fergus O'Hea,
the artist, and myself in " Ireland's Eye " office.
Cash was short the till was empty till an old lady
entered and stated that she was " a subscriber from
the first, and wanted to pay in advance a year's
subscription " huge excitement in inner office
but the lady added, " I should like to see the Pro-
prietor or Editor and make a suggestion." It was
mutually agreed that Bowling should accept pro-
prietorial honour and interview the lady. " What
can we do for you, madam ? " The lady praised
the paper. "It was excellent" only had "one
fault " the cartoons, splendid as they were, " they
always followed the event they were caricaturing."
If they could " anticipate the subject," how much
better it would be. " Madam," said Bowling, " we
appreciate your kind interest in our welfare. At
present, however, we find great difficulty in paying
an Editor and artist, but I arn afraid a prophet
(profit) is beyond our means."

A column of theatrical notes signed " Beppo "in
a paper called " The Citizen " was my next move,
till I did the previously recorded work in Paris for
"the " Entr'acte," for which paper I had previously
been its unpaid Bublin correspondent. Nothing
journalistic turned up then till 1889, when I met
the Moores, George and Augustus, in London, re-
newed an old family friendship and joined Augus-
tus Moore on " The Hawk," as musical and

D



9 S JIMMY GLOVER HLS BOOK

dramatic critic and general assistant at ^3 a week,
my evenings being spent at the Comedy Theatre
in my musical vocation.

Now it was the habit at one time to level cheap
sneers at " The Hawk," but it was one of the most
brilliant organs that ever saw light. Let us see
whom we had on the staff. Justin Huntly
McCarthy, James Runcimaii (John A' Dreams),
Frederick Greenwood, Clement Scott, G. Bernard
Shaw (then " Corno di Bassetto "-ing in "The
Star"), a newcomer, A. B. Walkley, R. S. Hichens
(a young neophyte trying his hand for the first
time fresh from David Anderson's Journalists'
School in Chancery Lane), Charles Williams, the
famous war correspondent, George Moore, the
novelist, Francis H. Gribble, now equally eminent,
Alec Knowles " Sir Affable," and many others.
Not at all a bad staff.

The circumstances under which " The Hawk "
came to be born were rather peculiar. For years
a paper called " The Bat " had been run by James
Davis " Jimmy " later on known as " Owen
Hall," the author of "The Gaiety Girl " and other
successes. " The Bat " was nearly always in hot
water, and so it came about that " Jimmy Davis "
disappeared to Paris and left an issue of " The
Bat " at the eleventh hour on the point of its going
to press under circumstances already referred to.
The last issue of the paper was set up, but with
instructions henceforward to " stop publication."
This telegram was intercepted by Moore, who had
contributed a large amount of the then set up
" copy " of the about-to-be-stopped issue, and he,
in conjunction with the rest of the staff, brought
out "The Hawk," using all the matter of "The
Bat " but merely changing the title, etc., so that
instead of the paper closing publication, it simply
continued to appear under another name. The
immediate financial support necessary as far as
Moore was concerned was provided in this way.

Moore had just had one of his many rows with
people in this particular instance Clement Scott,
whom Moore had been lampooning in a paper



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 99

called " Society." Scott insisted on Moore's dis-
missal from the Olympic Theatre as a condition of
his entering it on a first night for " The Daily
Telegraph." Result: Moore v. Clement Scott;
action for damages, etc. ; the subsequent interven-
tion of a mutual friend, that good, kind, peace-
maker, Wilson Barrett, and " C.S." paid over a
solatium to Moore of several hundred pounds. It
so happened that these funds had just arrived about
the time " Jimmy " Davis' " stop publication " wire
arrived, so on such short capital he ran the paper
for some months, till a misunderstanding occurred
with a co-proprietor he had taken in, when he
resigned.

Three mouths later there came to him a stranger,
my friend, F. M. " Pelican " Boyd, who found an-
other financier, on condition that he, Moore, re-
turned as editor, so that on Christmas Eve, 1803
on behalf of Mr. W. Morley Pegge, we bought the
paper for ^325, made it " hum " for six months,
and then a Mr. Frank Harris purchased a half-
share for ^3500, Pegge and Harris ultimately sell-
ing out to a syndicate for ^12,000.

To the outside public the paper was seemingly
always in trouble, but we seldom got caught. Bow
Street saw us once a month regularly, but we never
had to climb down, although if we were in the
wrong we acknowledged it nobly, and we were
never committed for trial. Once we went there for
having libelled a new invention called " Linotype."
Paraphrasing a popular Gaiety song (sung by E.
J. Lonnen), the attack was headed " 'Ave a Line-o-
Type a-Long-o'-me." When we arrived at our
accustomed seats in front of the dock, we made two
horrible discoveries : first, that the magistrate was
Sir James Vaughan ; and second, that the principal
witness against us was Mr Jacob Bright, that same
magistrate's brother-in-law, the chairman of Lino-
type Company, a brother of the famous Tribune
John Bright. Besley, Q.C., bullied, ranted and
raved, but all to no purpose George Lewis for us
turned everything inside out, and after a short
adjournment, the Prosecution withdrew. The attack



TOO JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

was not against Linotype per se, but merely in the
compositor interest. How wrong we all were is
now evident, judged by the enormous position that
all mechanical type-setting apparatus occupy in
the typographical world. On another occasion, a
gentleman got a " fiat " against us. A " fiat " just
then became the necessary authority to a libelled
plaintiff before he could obtain a criminal summons
for libel. It is granted for the Attorney General
by a Judge in Chambers. Possessed of one of these
judicial authorities, an aggrieved person walked
into the Gaiety bar, where he met another per-
sonality, whose " previous " had also been exposed.
" I've got a summons to-day against that ' Hawk '
chap," valiantly remarked the successful litigant.
" I'll give him chokey and that's what you. ought
to have done." " Look here, my fine young
fellow," was the laconic reply from the likewise
attacked, but " nolle-prosequi " sport, " don't you
be too 'asty. What's the odds ? This ' awk ' has
called you a dirty thief well, what of it ? Who
reads the beastly rag ? Nobody. Not fifty people
in the world that we know. You're only called a
thief to fifty people, twenty of whom don't know
you and never will very well then, why take the
paper to Bow Street and get yourself published as
a scoundrel in every paper to-morrow morning in
the United Kingdom ? Not me, my good friend,
not me ! Let sleeping dogs lie." This advice took.
The Attorney General's fiat was not used, and the
summons never applied for.

Really, the paper might never have prospered
were it not for its enemies, who consistently ad-
vertised it at their own expense, but the " Jimmy ''
Whistler affair was our great and real "boom." I
had written an article on the financial manage-
ment of a " Fete Frangaise " scandal, and into it
quite innocently imported the name of a gentleman
I had never seen, known, or heard of Mr. E. W.
Godwin and this at the suggestion of an interested
tradesman. Mr. Whistler, who married Mr. Godwin's
widow, a fact of which I was ignorant, resented
this reference. So he hied him to the Beef-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 101

steak Club to parade his grievance amongst others
to a sympathetic actor friend, who also had nursed
a grudge against the paper. There and then the
Drury Lane incident as to how the Editor was to
oe ridiculed, was stage-managed. It was the first
night of " A Million of Money," and in the foyer
Whistler walked up to the Editor and with a penny
cane tapped him three times on the shoulder cry-
ing : " Hawk, Hawk, Hawk, I chastise you ! " in
the excitement, which only lasted a few seconds,
the great impressionist fell down, and my epigram-
matic friend, the clever musician Algernon Lind,
summed it up tersely in the next day's " Globe "
with :

A KNOCK-TRUN IN BLACK AND BLUE

Only a word in the foyer,

Only a form on the floor ;

A popular painter went home feeling fainter,

And the stalls held one less and one Moore.

Not so Moore and I. We went home, " did it "
well, and were rewarded by a pyramid of enter-
prising journalists who lined the stairs of our busi-
ness premises, 172 Strand waiting for advance
' pulls " of what we had to say on the mntter,
much to the inconvenience of Alfred Gibbons of
" The Lady's Pictorial," whose offices were on the
first floor.

Let me do Moore credit. He had a great insight
into the real facts of a case. He could tell any man
on earth the right way to do a thing, but in his own
case never achieved the desired end. He was a
Roman Catholic, and in the Roman Catholic Home
Secretaryship of Henry Matthews (now Lord Llan-
daff), a murderer named Lipski was condemned to
be hanged. Lipski was a walking-stick maker in
Whitechapel. A sordid story of drink, adultery
and jealousy, ended in his murdering his poor wife,
by pouring nitric acid down her throat. W. T.
Stead, on the " Pall Mall Gazette," raised a great
cabal as to the improbability of the murderer's
guilt, suggested Lipski's wrongful conviction, and
the convict's solicitor (the Home Secretary having



102 JIMMY GLOVER HLS BOOK

refused a reprieve) went so far as to send a tele-
gram in the following terms direct to Queen Vic-
toria at Osborne :

" Innocent man to be hanged on Tuesday. Pray
your Majesty's clemency for a few days. New evi-
dence forthcoming."

To every one's surprise, but in consonance with
the sweet nature of the great White Queen, Lipski
behind the back of the Home Secretary was re-
prieved for a week. Moore, believing in his guilt,
went straight to the " Evening News," and obtained
a commission to investigate the whole thing. Every
day for the anxious seven days the " Pall Mall "
brought out fresh facts to prove the innocence of
the murderer, and Moore sat on the doorstep for
every new edition of Stead's paper, with which be
cabbed it to Whitechapel to gain rebutting evidence
which he published in a later edition of " Evening
News." Lipski wrote a beautiful letter to the
" Pall Mall " thanking them for their advocacy,
and promising to make new walking-sticks for all
the staff when he was liberated. In the end
Moore's facts prevailed. The Queen refused to
interfere further, and the hangman did his work.

On the scaffold Lipski confessed that he mur-
dered his wife.

Chester Ives was a real live entity in newspaper-
dom, but somehow or other he missed his shot
ultimately taking his own life in pathetic circum-
stances. In Parliamentary history he will be
handed down as the machine which broke Parnell.
The real reason for the Parnell debacle was ap-
parent to everybody, but it was a wonder to the
world that what had been a secret de polichinelle
for many years, should have come so suddenly as
a bolt from the blue. But there were vindictive
influences at work. It was a carefully and diaboli-
cally manoeuvred coup. It was decided that some
one should be sent to interview Captain O'Shea for
" The Evening News," and the exact questions and
posers which would force O' Shea's hand were all



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 103

carefully arranged beforehand. I do not blarne
Ives, to whom the duty was entrusted. He was a
real American journalist out for blood, but the
failure of the Parnell Commission had to be fol-
lowed up with some sort of a coup d'ttat, and so
it came about that the best and most " honourable "
way of doing it was through the divorce court.
This story may invite any amount of contradiction
I don't care if it does. I have Ives' own ipse
dixit for its absolute truth. I knew Chester for
many years, and he was a great and good friend.

It was during this time that Mr. Labouchere and
Gladstone had their great row over the non-inclu-
sion of " Labby " in Gladstone's 1886 Cabinet, and
many were the efforts made to get advance " pulls "
of the hearty " Truth " battle of words between the
two men. The late Horace Voules, the actual
editor of " Truth," had allowed me to be useful to
him in an important theatrical scandal case, and I
received a card from him to go to Wymans', the
printers in Great Queen Street, to get " not before
3 a.m.," a pull of the pages of the interesting war
of political polemics between Labby and Gladstone.
And this resulted in my sharing half a doorstep
one night with Sir J. H. Dalziel (the Member for
Kirkcaldy, and present editor of " Reynolds',")
who as London correspondent for several Scotch
papers, was on a like bent. I was promised ten
pounds for my " pull," and I flew back to the
" Morning " with triumphant cocksureness with
the copy, for my prize, but some one had been
before me, and I found the article fully set up on
my arrival. Ives, nevertheless, kept his word, and
paid me that " tenner."

The " Morning " wandered on till we all found
ourselves at the " Sun," with T. P. O'Connor as
editor, Kennedy Jones, myself, and others of the
" Morning " staff. I was introduced and appointed
as musical critic through Boyle Lawrence, with a
similar position on the " Weekly Sun " at a fixed
salary, and the run of the office for " specials " and
" extras." One night I caught an " extra." A
man called at a flat to see a lady of leisure she



104 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

was out a pretty maid opened the door, the man
followed the maid into the dining-room, saying,
" You'll do as well," and tried to assault her. She
grasped the table-cloth, which had a lighted paraffin
lamp on it, the result being that the woman
swooned, the lamp set fire to the room ; the man,
frightened, ran out of the flat, locked the door for
supposed safety, and when the brigade arrived, the
poor girl was roasted and charred to death. I
heard the inquest was to be suppressed, and saw
a good " scoop." I cabbed it to Whitefriars Street,
straight to the " Sun " office, rushed in and burst
open the door of the newsroom to find Louis Tracy
and Kennedy Jones in solemn conclave. I tried
hard to " stop press," but to no purpose.

" Come with us," said Kennedy Jones, " we want
you." And then we migrated to the " Rainbow,"
where both Jones and Tracy showed me a letter they
had just received, the purport of which is quoted
below. They had both just emerged from
" Answers " office, where having explained to a
fair-haired young gentleman the following facts
that the Harry Marks Syndicate had decided to sell
the " Evening News," a meeting had been called
to conclude the sale (I think it was at ,-22,000 all
in). The original idea that these two pioneers had,
was to have purchased the paper and amalgamated
it with the " Sun," and thus there would not have
been any evening Conservative halfpenny organ.
The capital of the " Sun," however, was short, and
in order not to lose an opportunity " Answers "
was resorted to on the advice of a friend, who said
" Alfred alwa}^ wanted to dabble in something
daily-like." Well, the two letters were the same
in result. Louis Tracy (who had been the acting-
editor on the " Sun ") was appointed as editor
and Kennedy Jones as news editor of the " Even-
ing News," both " at a salary of 10 a week and
one-eighth share of the profits for seven years."
Signed "Alfred Harmsworth." " K.J." shortly
afterwards became Editor.

I do not know any more good-natured, dominant,
matter-of-fact, interesting and sympathetic person-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 105

ality than this Kennedy Jones. And the boy evi-
dently was father to the undoubtedly great man
because as every one knows, his has been a Napo-
leonic guiding hand in the greatest revolution pos-
sible in the modern Newspaper world. I first met
him on the " Birmingham Daily Mail." I wrote
the music of a play produced at Andrew Melville's
Grand Theatre Melville, father of the present .
Lyceum Manager. Jones did the dramatic criticism.
I eagerly sought the morning-after paper for the
required notice. It was short, sharp, terse and to
the point. "This play is in four acts," wrote the
local critic, " the villain wears brown boots in the
first three acts. If he changed them to black in
the fourth the play might have a chance of success."

During an influenza attack while on the " Sun,"
I was " hors de combat " at my flat in Oxford
Street. Kennedy was the only member of our staff
who braved possible infection to come and see me
in my convalescence. Sitting there one night, the
two of us talked for hours of our future selves.
Two men a four-pound-a-week musical critic and
his six-pound-a-week news-editor colleague there
we sat for hours and settled the affairs of the nation
from our own point of view. I was very strong in
Ihose days on the journalistic theory of compelling
theatrical managers to do what " we," i.e. the news-
papers, wanted. We talked it out for hours till
Jones closed the argument and interview with these
words :

" James, my sole ambition in life is to sit in an
office in Fleet Street, press a button to every news-
paper all over the country, and direct them to tell
Lord Salisbury we want him to resign."

The most interesting battle in which I fought as
a " hidden force " was the Clement Scott debacle.
Perhaps the greatest critic of the Victorian era,
Clement had the heart of a child, and the tender
nature of a woman. He also had tempers and
moods which could not be justified ; but since his
death we have felt his loss, and even many who
had suffered from his scorpion pen admit that the
amount of good he did to the drama outweighed



io6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

any of his small prejudices. He was taken off his
high pinnacle in the public mind, and in the great
organ of which he was a shining ornament for
many years, by a sensational trick which had the
hollow ring of insincerity and bunkum right from
the very beginning. Supposed to attack the
morality of the women of the theatrical profession
in an interview, he said nothing more than he had
written under his own signature in " The Hawk "
on August yth, 1888, where his strength was so
great that he could not be attacked, but personal
spite had intervened, personal grudges had to be
worked off, even so far as turning the occasion of
a complimentary send-off supper to a well-known
actor into a vehicle of attack and abuse and attack
again. " C.S." of course had his faults, but there
are always ways and means of doing the right
thing, and in my humble opinion this was not the
right way to do it but let that pass. I am only
concerning myself with the many humorous inter-
ludes of this great sock and buskin row. A meet-
ing of all the leading theatrical managers at a pri-
vate house passed several hours in discussing the
exact kind of protest, punishment and excommuni-
cation which must be dealt out to the offending
critic, unanimously agreeing that he was not to be
allowed into any London Theatre until he had eaten
the leek and lunched in sackcloth and ashes. As
an " hors d'oeuvrc " the " something- with-burning-
oil-in-it " treatment was suggested. Unanimously
carried, all save one. A moody unit sat in a
corner ; listened carefully to everything, but uttered
not one word till he was appealed to in the end :
" You've said nothing, Willy," queried one of the
party to the actor, husband of one of the drama's
finest Matrons. " What's in your mind? "

" Well," said the silent one, " I was just think-
ing thit when the crucifixion stance is over, there
won't be enough cabs on the rank outside to take
all us actor-managers to 15 Woburn Square (Scott's
residence) to assure ' Clemmy ' that ' we ' were not
agreeable to the resolution, and only joined the
others pro forma."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 107

And so it was, four cabs drove up to Scott's
house that evening, and each occupant assured
" my dear Clement " of his own absolute neutrality
in the matter. As the actor's good lady, who tells
the story, remarked : "I was never so proud of
Willy in my life."

Shortly afterwards, Clement explained away his
references to the theatrical womanhood of England,
but for some time he was in sad straits because of
the " D.T.'s " refusal to allow him to do his work.
" They say that the managers won't let me into
their theatres, Jimmy, and they can't afford to have
the paper denied admission, what am I to do? *'

"Well," I suggested, "sit down and write a
nice note to the managers telling them of your re-
turn from your long holiday, your anxiety to see
the latest play, which you are so sorry was pro-
duced in your absence, that you are shortly re-
suming your work and tell me of one refusal."
Of course, as I anticipated, not one. Every I on-
don manager was " glad " to hear of his return,
and with the coupons all torn off the various tickets
presented to him, Clement was able to disprove the
heresy that he was " debarred at every box office
door." May I say that there was one manager to
whom he did not write, but even this was discreetly
arranged through a mutual friend, Edmund Rout-
ledge, always a friend of the theatre.

My journalistic experiences led me once to a
short, sharp and sweet interview with Sir Charles
Russell (Lord Killowen) future Lord Chief Justice
of England. I was a witness in one of his cases,
and was invited to the eleventh hour conference
which he always had with his client in his big
briefs. His Junior was a Mr Lionel Hart, then a
rising young Barrister, son-in-law of Sir George
Lewis, and afterwards the literary adviser to Sir
Beerbohm Tree. Russell cross-questioned me as to
the various points to which I was to testify, and
then, turning to his client, remarked, " Anything

more, Mr , before we go into Court? " " Oh,

nothing," said Mr M , " you have heard of the

so-and-so incident?" (referring to some new



loS JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

"fact" which he then related). "Good heavens,
no! " "But I told Mr Hart," pleaded the client,
" a week ago." To this the future Lord Chief took
off his wig, threw it in his Junior's face, -and
shouted, " Mr Hart, why the - - was I not told of
this before ! It alters the entire scheme of my
defence ! ' '

Carrying newspaper office humour into my real
life, often led me into little surprise " facetious "
acts which recoiled on myself.

When I first lived at Hampton Court, the local
Post Office closed at eight every night, and there
was no telephone service this in 1899 so unable
to get certain landowner interests to grant the
necessary wayleaves, I was piqued at being cut off
from London every night at eight which necessi-
tated many weary, useless night journeys, all of
which might easily have been done by wire or
'phone. Having failed, therefore, in every legiti-
mate endeavour to arouse a sentiment of commer-
cial spirit in local Rip-van- Winkleism, I thought
a little strategy or, as I thought, "humour"
would prove useful. I therefore published and
issued this poster, in black and white, all over the
village :

IMPORTANT NOTICE
To BURGLARS, CRACKSMEN, AND THOSE INTERESTED

IN THE HOUSEBREAKING INDUSTRY

An area of five miles in this district is cut ofi
from all communication with the outer world after
eight o'clock every evening. The undersigned
wishes to draw attention to the exceptional facilities
thus provided for practice in the above art. No
Police Station near for three miles.

By order,
JAMES M. GLOVER
His Mark
X

Now, it so happened that about this time a



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 109

pretty extensive list of my wedding-presents had
appeared in the local Press. I was suddenly taken
away to Eastbourne by Arthur Collins to work on
the pantomime, only to be recalled the next day by
my wile :

" Burglars attempted to get into house last
night; do come back."

So back I hied me to Hampton Court, to find it
was only too true ; but a new collie dog (alas !
poor Prince) woke my wife up, and she rushed to
the window just as the marauders, anticipating
that the dog's barkings would rouse the house,
were closing the gate quietly. " I'll call the
police! " shrieked my wife. But they only laughed,
and one, more daring than the rest, shouted out
as he politely latched the garden gate, " Tell old
Jimmy we onl}* called in response to his kind in-
vitation ! " The incident, of course, caused a small
sensation in the district, and shortly afterwards the
unwilling ones gave way, and the district obtained
its telephone service.

Of course, impromptu humour of this sort is very
prevalent on the stage, but one does not, however,
look for it " off " quite so frequently. First nights
are generally good times for the ready-made " wit "
notably in the gallery during serious situations.

It was about 2 a.m. when the curtain rose on a
version, many years ago, of " Monte Christo," at
the Adelphi. The scene was a darkened bedroom,
an old man discovered sitting beside a bed with a
lighted candle. Voice from the gallery : "I say,
mister, we're not keeping you up, are we? "

And yet another sly shaft enlivened a dull wait
in a version of " Carmen " at the Gaiety. Miss
Olga Nethersole on the first night was so " re-
served " in her love-making that after a long scene
with Don Jose a pittite shouted out : " I say, missis,
are we supposed to hear all this? "

But a serious contretemps may be a step to fame,
as on the first night of " The Trumpet Call " at the
Adelphi, when a then unknown actress stood on the



no JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

stage during a long love-scene. In the midcUe of
the dialogue all her under-petticoats slowly, but
surely, slipped to the ground. She calmly lifted
them up, held them by her side, and went on with
the scene. The papers the next morning wrote
columns about the sangfroid of the newcomer a
Mrs Patrick Campbell.

In my Fleet Street days I had so many experi-
ences which are merely local, but in the chaff of
printer's ink, " sticks " of stuff, " cuts," and otlr>r
small humours of the composing room, one or rvvo
serious items crop up. One of these was of very
great portent at the moment. I had intended wait-
ing one night at " The Times " office for a friend
then employed in the sub-Editorial Department.
Our mutual interest was early-morning breakfast
at one of the many Fleet Street caravanserai which
catered for the early-morning ink-slinger. My
friend entered, and told me to " bide a wee," but
to my intense chagrin he did not nor did any per-
son emerge from that office till 5 a.m. A gentle-
man's carriage alone blocked the way, standing
still, a shivering coachman, and an equally frozen-
up horse. Inside that " Times " office was Lord
Randolph Churchill, who., contrary to all etiquette,
precedent and common decency, had given to " The
Times " the first announcement of his resignation
as a Cabinet Minister, he being then Chancellor of
the Exchequer. " The Times " people had locked
everybody in till all the other papers had gone to
Press so as to prevent the possibility of a leakage.
And so it was on the morning of Thursday, Dec.
23rd, 1886, " The Times " exclusively announced :

RESIGNATION OF LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL
and Queen Victoria did not know.



\

\



CHAPTER VII

Augustus Harris, Knight First meeting He com-
mence; stage-management on his own ; Lord and
Lady Dunlo Harris " reforms " the music-hall At
the Palace How it emerged from bankruptcy to
bullion With Harris at Drury Lane How Arthur
Collins saved a situation Operatic experiences How
Jean cle Reszke "drew" on his own Sending Jean
" a few seats " Jean's retaliation He takes a theatre
and produces a play in forty-five minutes Running
three opera-houses a night How great artistes sang
at Windsor without salary The Legion of Honour
" Quelque chose du bon " A medical certificate
Punting on the river after Melba H.R.H. and the
omnibus box Harris' ruse Arthur Collins, stage-
manager Arthur Collins, Colonel Amusing con-
tretempts Queen Victoria watches Arthur Collins set
the scenery Mascagni at Windsor Conducts at a
music-hall How Plancon was " presented " and a
prima donna was " not " Conan Doyle and " Water-
loo " How Harris got out of a tight corner General
operatic remarks.

A BOY hanging on to my mother's skirts she the
harpist to those Mapleson and other opera
companies which visited Dublin in the 'Seventies,
of which visits I have already spoken I first met
Augustus Harris when he came to the Dublin
Theatre Royal as stage-manager for Signer Campo-
bello (Mr. Campbell, a Scotch vocalist). Cauipo-
bello had married the great Madame Sinico, j'.ud
with the scattered battalions of Mapleson 's and
Gye's London forces, had formed the Campobello-
Sinico Opera Company, with entirely new dresses
by Madame Auguste (Harris' mother), who kept a
in



ii2 JIMMY GLOVER HLS BOOK

costumier's emporium in Wellington St'eet,
Strand. This lady's two sons Augustus as stage-
manager, and Charles as " regisseur " we?e at-
tached to the operatic tours mentioned, with power
to seize the costumes in case the hire-pirclnse
agreements were not faithfully kept up. I mention
this because the foreclosure actually took place at
Rochdale, when Augustus and Charles Harris each
sat on a large basket of the costumes and refused
to allow them to be opened or any costume used till
some instalment was paid.

This was the first time that Augustus Harris had
a free hand in Italian or any opera (early experi-
ence of which he had learned from his father,
Augustus Harris the elder). The manner in which
the young stage-manager rated a Madame Piccioli,
who did the sleep-walking scene in " La Somnam.-
bula " in a modern white evening-dress and high-
heeled shoes, left a big impression on my youthful
mind. (Something similar happened when Mrs.
Patrick Campbell in " The Bondman," at Drury
Lane, as a poor child of a hard-up Manx peasant,
wore high-heeled bronze French shoes in the first
act). I next met Augustus Harris twenty-five years
later, when " Druriolanus " came into an opera box
at the Comedy Theatre (we were playing " Jane ")
with Lord and Lady Dunlo (afterwards the Earl
and Countess of Clancarty), who had that day
settled their matrimonial differences. The lady,
after a tour as " Belle Bilton " (her maiden name)
in Harris' " Venus " Company, lived happily ever
afterwards with the Earl till she succumbed to a
dangerous operation.

As children singers in Charles Bernard's Juve-
nile " Cloches de Corneville " Company, the two
Sisters Bilton did tours with me in the chorus and
in a pantomime or two, till as maturer artistes
they startled the town with :

" Fresh, fresh, fresh as the morning,
Sweeter than new-mown hay."

From this time I used to meet the Drury Lane



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 113

manager often at the Pelican, at Co vent Garden
balls, etc., and ultimately he offered me the joint
and managing musical directorship of the Palace
Theatre, which was then on the verge of comple-
tion. To reform the music-hall (he had already
had experience at the Empire), to give a better
entertainment, all this was in his mind, and jour-
nalistically I propagated the " great " gospel. He
started the Palace with a band of fifty-six and a
one-act drama called "The Round Tower," by Jus-
tin Huntly McCarthy. How this was howled off
the first night, how " the mad policy of a one-act
drama in the music-hall " was scouted by the Press,
how the thousand infuriated first-nighters standing
on the wet December day from 8 a.m. till 7 p.m.
for their " turn," only to find all the seats booked,
and how they stormed the circles and took forcible
possession of the house, and cat-called everything,
is now history. The Palace dawdled on ; but a
ballet by Cecil Raleigh and myself, stage-managed
by Arthur Collins, kept the doors open till an
eventful night, when Kilyani's " Tableaux
Vivants " drew the town, filled the theatre's
coffers, and turned its fortunes. Old Charles Mor-
ton, brought over from the Tivoli (with a year's
salary deposited in advance at his bank), did his
very best to cancel this turn ; but Harris was
adamant, and some of the directors who had seen
the " Tableaux " in Paris also stood firm, with the
result we all know. It was strange that the real
success should have come owing to one of the turns
he had originally booked, at the time when Sir
Augustus Harris had relinquished all practical con-
trol in the management.

I migrated from the Palace to Drury Lane and
opened with " A Life of Pleasure," the principal
scene of which was a great Maxim gun demonstra-
tion. This sensation startled London, and on the
first night Harris had not a single idea how it
was to end. He had this habit of leaving things.
Collins fished out some old scene " Cloths " from
the cellar, made a ravine spanned by a bridge,
placed a couple of Maxims (one each side of the



ii 4 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

stage) and with " Lights out " aud Cimmerian dark-
ness let go the guns, which Harris had never seen
rehearsed. The effect was magical, and to no one
so much as to Harris, who, standing in the wing,
suddenly lowered the curtain and in a moment was
in front bowing acknowledgments to as huge a call
as I ever heard. This play was followed by one of
his greatest failures, " Robinson Crusoe," the only
Boxing Night he ever missed at Drury Lane in his
thirteen years' regime. Everything tended to
failure. Harris was sickening fast, Henry Pettit
was taken ill, and died on the Christmas Eve, a
fact which drew away the attention of his Brother-
in-law, Harry Nicholls, who was writing the panto-
mime. The shock told so much on " Druriolanus,"
that he took to his bed for eight weeks the first of
his " warning " illnesses.

The opera season at Covent Garden was my next
move, and not being allowed to conduct during the
" Grand " season there (although " Faust," " Caval-
leria," and " Carmen " and other works fell to my
lot in the " off " time) I, to use Harris' term,
became " Administrateur Musicalc." This meant
anything taking the superfluous singers to the
Crystal Palace or Brighton in " Flying matinees "
drawing cheques, translating the contracts (all in
French), and generally making myself useful in
fact, anything that came along. A short speech in
front for a voiceless prima donna carrying a mes-
sage to the omnibus box used by the Prince of
Wales accompanying a song for a " trial audi-
tion " writing off a few paragraphs for the Press
all was grist which came to my mill. This opera
season was the first in which my friend Neil For-
syth had absolute control in front at Covent Gar-
den excepting in the initialling of the free list,
F. G. Latham having just left. This initialling
business Harris insisted on doing himself for one
season only, and it was in this capacity that he
administered his famous rebuke to Jean de Reszke.
Jean insisted on opening in Massenet's " Werther " ;
it was a failure, but the famous tenor would not
admit it.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 115

Now one of my many duties was to assist in re-
cording the number of " appearances " of each
artiste for the future programmes, and keeping a
check of the number of nights that each singer was
to sing; so on Harris' suggestion we put up Jean
de Reszke and Calve in " Faust " for the Saturday
following the failure of the " Werther." I told
Jean as i was directed. He protested, said that he
must have a second " Werther " his idea was that
a single performance would be admitting failure
adding, " I will draw, if the opera doesn't."
Harris consented nialgre lui, but was very sarcastic
about Jean's " I will draw." I generally Lad
authority to open all letters up to midday in case
anybody fell ill, so when on this Friday Harris
came down and said, " Anything important,
Glover?" I quickly replied, "Only a letter from
Jean for his usual javeurs de claque." This was a
sort of courtesy to every "star," that they should
have a few seats well-distributed in the house for
their friends, to lead off the applause and " en-
cores " at the right moment. I could not feign
them ; at this period Forsyth could not sign them
either, and Harris was annoyed at the suggestion
when Latham left that he did not personally man-
age his own business and so he insisted on personal
signature of all free seats. So to Teddy Hall, the
veteran box-office keeper great Radical and friend
of W. E. Gladstone the impresario resorted,
shortly returning, his arms bulging with " paper."
" I'll show him what he can draw on his own,"
and dumped a huge cargo of free tickets on to the
table. Now, twenty-four hours before a Jean de
Reszke Saturday night, nearly every bookable seat
ought to have been sold in some operas at pre-
mium price; but " Werther " was dead as an attrac-
tion, and when the manager went to the Box Office
the sheet was quite bare, over and above the usual
Saturday night season subscriptions. The opera
director sat down, called for some huge envelopes
into which he hastily and nervously shoved the
bundle of " billets de javeur," and then wrote his
own letter :



n6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

HI on cher Jean,

Auec plaisir. Voila quelques billets pour
domain soir. Si "oous auriez besoin d'autres
ecri-vez un petit mot ]e vous envoie 140 Fauteuils,
150 Balcons, ct soixante amphitheatres.

AUGUSTUS HARRIS

" I'll show him," he muttered with a wink,
" what he can draw." I remonstrated. I advised
my master that Jean might retaliate. Artistes after
all are only human, and I saw in my mind's eye
that as we were bound to have the great tenor for
several 3^ears a little diplomacy would be necessary
as trouble could easily and naturally arise. This
actually came true ; the fact that Tamagno had
made a success in the interim lent additional flame
to the fire.

The next season, at the end of its third week,
when we were very hard up for a good tenor and
really depending on Jean to pull us through, Jean
wired that his voice was " fatigued," and that he
was " en -vacance " at Mont Dore, and to Mont Dore
poor " Druriolanus " had to repair in August to
catch the Polish Tenor and make his promise for
the following season, which he did, a promise he
faithfully kept. Artistes who depend on uvulas, the
caprice of glandular affections or the varying
laryngitis troubles must be humoured, and nobody
knew this better than Augustus Harris, and that
any sort of doctor's certificate excuse would carry
any contract either way. But he wanted his little
joke he got it and paid for it. Jean was a real
good sort and a genuine humourist. Often to while
away a long entr'acte he and Edouard or Pran9on
would sing in their broken English " Annie
Rooney " or " A Little Bit off the Top " on Juliet's
tombstone in the last act of Gounod's opera.

Harris, Collins and myself one Saturday evening
were going out to dinner. " Where shall I take
you two boys to dinner?" queried our host. " Don't
care," we replied^ "Well," said Sir Augustus,
"let us go somewhere near the Princess', I own
the copyright of a play called ' Jean Mayeu.' The



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 117

Company opens there to-night." So we all wan-
dered up to Frascati's. We arrived at 6.50 and
ordered three chops. At seven, James Crowdy, the
then lessee of the Princess', came in. "Hello! "
said Harris. " We're coming to see your show to-
night." "The devil you are! " said Crowdy, "I
don't know if there is going to be any show. Old
story. Company arrived from Russia, bankrupt,
early this morning _ and not haviig received their
last month's salaries, have refused to appear. I
have spent a large amount in advertising and keep-
ing the theatre ready for them, and now I don't
know what to do," Crowdy went on. "I must
shut up, and have the theatre on my hands at the
rental of ^120 a week empty."

" Nonsense ! " said Harris. " Have a whisky and
soda." Crowdy sat down in a despondent attitude
mentally totting up all his liabilities. Suddenly
Harris almost in the same breath burst out, " I tell
you what I'll do 60 per cent, to me I'll take the
company over 40 per cent, to you for the house.
Is that agreeable? " This meant that Harris would
pay all the artistes, so we were not astonished when
Crowdy jumped up. "Right! " cried the aston-
ished lessee, and at 7.25 (the curtain was announced
to rise at 7.45) the great impresario walked on to
the stage of the Princess' Theatre, then filled with
a howling mob of penniless, defrauded French
artistes, and his first words were " Qu'est qu'il-y-a
mes amis ? " I never saw a more bewildered crowd.
In a moment or two a timid voice cried, " Eh, men,
'monsieur, c'esi bien facile qui est-ce-que nous
payera nos cachets?" and all stood anxiously
awaiting the reply.

" Moi," ejaculated Harris. " Ring up, Collins."
And just in the space of forty-five minutes
he had taken over another theatre. " Jean
Mayeu " was a frost, and for one solid
month those artistes appeared at Covent Garden
treasury. But incidents of this sort were
nothing to this great director, who in one
evening would do the English premiere of Verdi's
' Falstaff " at Covent Garden a production of



uS JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

" Siegfried " with Max Alvary, the great Wagnerian
tenor at Drury Lane, and " Cavalleria " and " Pag-
liacci " at Windsor for Her Majesty the late Queen
Victoria. His Eastern commercial artfulness and
tact never failed him.

The frequency with which the late Queen Vic-
toria " commanded " performances at Windsor
rather worried him. What with special trains,
scenery, and dislocation of casts, he generally was
out several hundred pounds over and above the fee
allowed by the Royal authorities. When, however,
the Queen wished three Command performances in
ten days, it was too much, so he sat down and per-
sonally wrote a very nice letter to Sir Henry Pun-
sonby. This brought a most sympathetic reply
from the Royal private secretary, armed with which
Harris immediately called on Calve at the Savoy.
He pointed out that her salary was too much to
allow him to count the Royal Command as "a per-
formance " in her contract, a matter of about 80
or ;ioo, that Her Majesty had commanded " Caval-
leria " as an opera, but no particular artistes, and
therefore he " was very sorry," etc., but he must
do it as cheaply as he could and put in artistes
" Payes par la quinzaine " and not " Par represen-
tation." Calve protested. Harris insisted, but in the
end relenting, suggested that she might write a
letter to Sir Henry, stating that the honour of sing-
ing to the Queen of England was so great that she
would not think of charging a fee. Calve took the
bait and hastily scribbled the required epistle which
was to the effect that the honour of singing " devant
la Reine d'Angleterre " was so great, etc., that she
would offer her services as Santuzza. " What a
gracious thing it will be, ' Homage from a French
artist,' I'll send this immediately," said our mana-
ger, pocketing the coveted document, and off he
went. The despair of De Lucia (the Turiddu),
of Ancona (the Alfio), of Plan9on who was Jupiter
in "Philemon," also " Commanded," at being told
the same thing was awful, but and there was a
large " but " added Sir Augustus, " if they cared
to do as Calve had done it would be a pretty com-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 119

pliment," and he very soon found himself the
triumphant possessor of four letters, all of which
he immediately took down to Buckingham Palace.
The exact amount thus saved on each performance
was ^300.

The Covent Garden impresario spent a lot of
money in France. French plays, operas, ballets,
and artistes benefited to an enormous extent out of
his exchequer, so that he thought at one time the
" Legion d'Honneur " might justifiably come this
way. He was a little piqued that he did not get it,
but somewhat solaced when the Duke of Saxe-
Coburg and Gotha (our Duke of Edinburgh) gave
him a decoration after the short season of the Saxe-
Coburg Company at Drury Lane. But the French
ribbon was his pet desire. Now it so happened
that at Covent Garden we had a prima donna

named N a, who was in favour with the then

French President, Casimir Perier. This lady only
made a " Succes d'estime," at Covent Garden,
much to her chagrin. She was ultimately cast for
" vSigna " in Sir F. H. Cowen's opera, which Harris
was under contract to play at least three times.
" These English composers," said Harris, " are art-
ful, they compel you beforehand to play their
operas three times." After the first performance
the lady was taken very ill-^-doctor's certificates,
etc." Loss of voice," " Bronchial catarrh " " Not
able to sing for ten days." This was all nonsense,
as she really wanted to sing all the Marguerites,
Isoldes, and other big roles, which were then distri-
buted to Patti, Melba, Albani, Calve, Sembrich,
and others. So we had to find another lady, Miss
Gherlson, to sing at the second " Signa " perform-
ance. This incidentally gave us a large amount
of trouble, and the lady a " short study," as the
second performance came in a few days following
the first. Now in the meantime it had been pointed
out in high Royal quarters that Italy (Mascagni)
and France (Gounod) had both been " Commanded "
to Windsor that season, but that England (F. H.
Cowen) had not had a look in. So to avoid Inter-
national difficulties, through the good offices of



120 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

dear Sir Paolo Tosti, it happened that the morning
after the second performance of " Signa," with the
accompanying deluge of medical certificates from
the laid-up Belgian prima donna, the London
papers officially announced that :

" Her Majesty the Queen, had graciously Com-
manded a concert performance of Mr. F. H. Cowen's
" Signa " at Windsor on the following Monday."

Then the fun began. Madame N a, the in-
valided Cantatrice, would be pleased to sing
" decant la Reine " in fact her cold " was not so
bad " the doctors had " inaccurately diagnosed
the matter " letters, telegrams everything to get
into the cast she had so petulantly abandoned
twenty-four hours before, but all to no avail. " The
young artist who came to my rescue at the eleventh
hour for the second performance must go to Wind-
sor," generously wrote Sir Augustus. But all artis-
tic resources being exhausted, then came the part-
ing shot ! I opened at this time, as I explained,
all telegrams up to twelve noon, and this was what
I handed to Sir Augustus Harris the morning of
the announcement of this Royal Command :

" Sir Harris,

" Covent Garden Theatre.

" Faites-moi jouer a Windsor et j'arrangerai
quelque chose de bon pour vous avec Casimir
Perier.

" N A "

We had many curious experiences at Covent Gar-
den, most of which have already appeared in print.
I am endeavouring only to indite the hitherto un-
published ones. We once changed the opera five
times between 10 a.m. and 6.30 o'clock, in order to
allow the necessary artistes to go to a Command
at Windsor. From " Cavalleria " and " Philemon "
at 10 a.m. we got to " Rigoletto " at 12, and then
we were considering the possibilities of " Lucia,"
and I took the train to Maidenhead, where Madame
Melba was staying, only to find she was out punt-
ing So punting I followed up all the reaches and



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 121

breakwaters, shouting out " Madame Melba
Mel-ba-a-a," but fruitlessly, so back I came to
Paddington. By this time it was 4 o'clock, and the
only thing left was Puccini's " Maiion Lescaut,"
which we decided to do about 5.45, till little Sepilli
rushed in to tell me that the singers of the eight-
part women's chorus at the end of the ist Act were
going to Windsor at 6.30 ; so I 'phoned the late
W. M. Hart, the superintendent, an old friend of
Harris', to delay the special till I got in a hansom
to Paddington, and triumphantly on the platform I
captured the eight songstresses, bundled them into
an omnibus, and deposited them at Covent Garden
at a little after seven.

Of Harris' diplomacy there are many evidences, but
he had a negative humour in some of his oratings
which sometimes led to a great deal of misunder-
standing. It was a custom to have the opera-house
done up once a year, and from times immemorial
it was done by a Mr. Cole ; a letter would be
written to " Dear Mr. Cole, will you do the neces-
sary decoration for us this season, terms as before."
Accordingly, up bobbed old King Cole and the
thing was done. Now it so happened that for many
years Mr. Cole had retired from business a fact
which was absolutely unknown to us ; the letter
was always forwarded on to him, he came up tc
town, sub-let the contract, and went down to his
Devonshire cream for another year with a nice little
profit to the good.

We opened the Season in 1894 Monday, May
i4th with Puccini's " Manon," on a Whit-Monday
a Bank Holiday.

May I say here that in reference to this Puccini
premiere the composer has been rather ungratefully
critical. He complains that the cast of his first
opera was not a good one, and Harris' brother-in-
law, Frank Rendle, has reminded him of the real
issue : " Manon Lescaut " is an unsavoury subject,
and was always a failure. Harris wanted to have
Verdi's " Falstaff," but Ricordi, the publisher,
made it a sine qua non that unless he took both
operas he could not have the Verdi work, and to



122 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

facilitate this arrangement insisted on the entire
company being imported from Milan. To this
Puccini made no objection, and even went so far,
on the previous night when he and I and Sepilli,
the conductor, supped at Gatti's Adelaide Gallery,
as to state that he was thoroughly satisfied. Of
course, these were in the pre-Boheme-Madame
Butterfly-Girl of the Golden West days.

But to continue Mr. Cole's story, the British
workman abandoned his half-done work at i p.m.
on the Saturday" previous, and among other things
left half-finished was the omnibus-box used by the
then Prince of Wales and his party of friends. The
Monday being Bank Holiday and our opening
night, we were so busy that we knew nothing of
this fact until late in the Monday evening, when
Sir Augustus was sent for, and I believe the inter-
view which took place between the Royal patron
and the Theatre Royal manager was far from
pleasant; but there it was the future King of
England asked to sit for three hours in a damp
half-papered box, the ceiling white- washed and the
wallpaper half-stripped, with the dripping paint on
the walls ready for the return of the workmen on
Tuesday morning. H.R.H. was righteously an-
noyed. Harris, however, did not lose his head.
He coolly wrote a letter to Maples ; they took it in
hand the next morning, and had instructions that
for one whole week something new in decoration
every day was to be done or something fresh added
in upholstery or furniture, so that by the end of the
week the box was almost crowded out. This was
the other extreme, and the late King was not slow
to advise the Management of the fact.

But Harris made many a lapsus which no one
better enjoyed than himself. One on the then
much-discussed " pitch question " is characteristic.

It is not many years ago since Covent Garden
was the only orchestra possessing low-pitch instru-
ments. Harris one morning asked me at The Elms,
his residence in St. John's Wood, how the flute or
clarinet managed to flatten as required, and I told
him that they simply had to " pull out " or " push



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 123

in " a little valvular arrangement to obtain the re-
quired nicety. We drove on to Covent Garden it
was the first rehearsal of the season. " Good morn-
ing, gentlemen," volunteered Sir Augustus to the
band, " I've had a long letter from Mr. Jean de
Reszke this morning, and he complains bitterly
about the high pitch." " Well," said old Carro-
dus, the leader, " how are we to help it? " " Well,
you must pull out, dear boy," replied Harris
triumphantly.

At Windsor, all sorts of humorous things would
occur. At one time when Harris would shout out,
" Is Arthur Collins there? " another Arthur Collins
would be fetched Colonel Sir Arthur Collins, one
of the King's Equerries ; again, fearful that any
one should invade the privacy of the Waterloo
Chambers while he was arranging the stage, Drary
Lane's present successful manager gave strict
orders that " No one was to be allowed in the Hall."
Seeing a form slowly moving at the back and in-
specting everything carefully, he rushed down to
ascertain who had disobeyed his orders, only to
find that it was the late Queen Victoria herself,
who came in " Just to have a look round."

Mascagni at this time was flushed with the suc-
cess of " Cavalleria," and annoyed at the failure of
" L'Amico Fritz " and one or two other later works
to attain the same merit of success. Mascagni 's
anger was further accentuated by the prevalent
remark that it was " a fervent hope he would soon
write another ' Cavalleria.' " I quote this sentence
as the ipsissima i>erba of general criticism and
newspaper comment. He heard the cry everywhere
in the theatre, club, Press, society : " A long wav
off ' Cavalleria,' " " Nothing like ' Cavalleria,' "
" Never so popular," etc., etc. Mascagni got very
much hurt at this, so much so, that at a reception
given him at Harris' house ("The Elms"), when
the impresario asked him to conduct a selection of
the popular work, which was just about to be
played by the Coldstreams, he point-blank refused,
but ultimately succumbed to the gentle persuasion
of Lady Harris.



124 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Again at the Palace Theatre, when it first started
as a music-hall, at a matinee given for the French
Journalists' Benevolent Fund, Harris made Mas-
cagni conduct against his will the " Cavalleria
Ave Maria " ; a music publisher's arrangement of
his Intermezzo which he detested, sung on this
particular occasion by Calve. Calve and he were
at daggers drawn, so Harris doubly enjoyed this
tour de force. Mascagni, who then hated Calve,
compelled to conduct an " Ave Maria " version of
his own Intermezzo, which version he did not write !
It was great. The more Mascagni refused the
more Harris insisted. " This performance," said
Harris, " is for the poor widows and starving chil-
dren of Continental journalists. If you refuse,
Mascagni, your name will be anathema all over the
Continent." And the Italian composer gave in.
As a sop to Cerberus, Sir Augustus took the com-
poser down to Windsor a few nights later to con-
duct his opera there, but even then he was not safe
from the old " Cavalleria " taunts. The Queen, as
was her custom, sent to know who would Sir
Augustus like to " present." " Why, Mascagni,
the composer, of course." " Druriolanus " had
gained his point at the Music-hall Palace. He would
return the compliment at the Windsor Palace.
To the Royal presence he was ushered the
usual Royal formalities congratulations, etc.,
and then one parting Royal word; the Queen
addressing the composer : " Signer Mascagni, I
hope you will soon write another ' Cavalleria ' "
(Tableau) .

Tamagno, when he went to Windsor, sang " Man-
rico," and everybody knows the big ut de poitrine
in the last act. The Waterloo Chamber is not a
large building, and when Tamagno let out his top
C it shook the chandelier. Asked by Sir Augustus
if she liked the new tenor the Queen replied : " Yes,
but must he always sing as loud as he did
to-night? " He was very careful of his voice this
great artiste originally an Italian blacksmith ; on
the days of the nights that he sang he never talked
from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. All his business correspon-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 125

dence on these occasions was done on a slate which
he hung round his neck.

These Windsor presentations, as I have hinted,
had many a humorous side. Once Plancon, as
Mephistopheles, waited to change into his evening
suit we told him the Queen would not be kept
waiting, and in the end persuaded him to go into
the Royal presence with half his make-up on.

Calve and Sigrid Arnoldson the latter a Dane
appeared on the same night at a " Command."
Harris decided to " present " Calve, and did really
leave Arnoldson out. Now these " Command "
performances are generally followed by presenta-
tions of jewellery to all the artistes about two weeks
after the performance. Arnoldson's husband, a Mr.
Fischoff (" Fish-hooks " we called him) was very-
wrath at Harris' neglect; so on the morning after
the performance, he wrote direct to the then Prin-
cess of Wales (Queen Alexandra) on the supposed
" slight " her countiy woman had received at Wind-
sor. The " ruse " succeeded, for the morrow's
evening paper contained this paragraph :

" Madam Sigrid Arnoldson was commanded to
Buckingham Palace to-day by Her Majesty, the
Queen, who presented the Danish Nightingale with
a beautiful diamond brooch in remembrance of her
excellent performance of ' Baucis ' on Saturday
Night."

" Umph ! " said Augustus Harris, " that taps for
her 'coda,' at Co vent Garden," and he kept his
word It may be here explained to the uninitiated
that " coda " is the musician's term for " the end."

I once called on Harris on the morning after the
production of " Waterloo " at Bristol, by Sir H.
Irving. " What is this new play of Irving's ? "
quoth Harris. " Oh ! " I said, " a one-act piece by
a young man ol a new school Conan Doyle."
"Who's he?" "Doyle," I said, "you know-
wrote those ' Sherlock Holmes' stories." " Holmes
Holmes Holmes," cried Harris thoughtfully.



i 2 6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

"Oh, yes, I know didn't he write 'The Auto-
biography of a Breakfast Table ? ' : (Fact.)

On the first night of the " Derby Winner " at
Drury Lane, the wrong animal won. For reality's
sake, we put the real actor jockey, Harry Evers-
field, to ride the hero's horse, win the money, and
secure the natural love ending of the play. But
the "super" jockey, who had always done this
sort of work, and had made a stage hit on " Volup-
tuary " in " The Prodigal Daughter," was jealous
at being only allowed to hold nightly the winner's
head till the appointed word " Go." When this
signal arrived he did " hold " the arranged-for
winner's head, with the result that the villain's
horse came in first. This ruined the plot; and the
play ended to the derisive cheers of the big first-
night audience, biit the Inveruessed shirt-fronted
knight was before the curtain in a minute. " Ladies
and Gentlemen, I know what you're laughing at "
(huge merriment), "but as a matter of fact the
winning-post is half a mile off, further down the
course, and although the villain's horse was in front
just passing here, I give you my word that Clip-
stone, at the winning-post, won by a neck ! " And
thus was a huge contretemps turned into a huge
success.

Augiistus Harris had in early life decided that he
would soon have a shot at theatrical management,
and as was ultimately the case forsake the business
office of Erlangers' in Paris, where he was appren-
ticed, for the more exciting life of the theatre.
After he left Erlangers' he was retained by Charles
Wyndhain for stage-management purposes, and it
was during a visit to Paris that at Wyndham's re-
quest he sampled " Les Dominos Roses," and wired
the then Mr Wyndham to purchase the English
rights, he (Augustus Harris) playing his first ap-
pearance in London the part of Harry Greenlanes
in the English version " Pink Dominos."

Three years before he reached Drury Lane he
made an attempt to go into management on his
own at the Philharmonic, in Islington, for I find
the following letter written to his friend, Jimmy



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 127

Taylor, a financial adviser of his father's, who
recently retired from an honoured position in the
Railway Clearing house.
The letter is dated from

" So, Guildford Street,

" Russell Square,

" soth July, 1876.
" MY DEAR TAYLOR,

" The Philharmonic is to be had very
cheap, what do you think of taking it and running
it as a first-class music-hall such as does not exist
in London, i e . to play two or three little ballets
every evening? In fact, the same style of per-
formance as the Alhambra used to give when a
music-hall."

(Here follows the business man's keen insight as-
to ways and means.)

Rent, Taxes, etc., paid off by letting refresh-
ments, bars, etc.



Gas and Limelight .... 20

Orchestra 20

Ballet and Company .... 100

Advertising ...... 30

Front of House 15

Working of Stage \

Carpenters, props, and I . .20

Dressers

Weekly loss on production sold again

to provincial theatre 10



" 36 P er night expenses at the most. What do
you think of it ?

" Yours truly,

" AUGUSTUS HARRIS "

Harris was a good business man but always very-
touchy about his financial position, which, after his



i 2 8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Shrievalty, was the cause of much unnecessary and
unkindly remark. During this period we both
went one night into Gatti's. " Ah, Gatti," said
Gus Harris to Agostino, who was sitting at the
usual family table, " I saw you on a 'bus to-day
in Long Acre. What's the meaning of that ? "
" Nothing," was Agostino's reply. " Isn't it good
to know that one can afford to be seen riding on a
''bus ? ''' At this time certain busybodies were try-
ing to circulate rumours about Harris' financial
position



CHAPTER VIII

More about Augustus Harris and Arthur Collins
The Passing of Augustus Harris John Coleman's
" interregnum " with " The Duchess of Coolgardie "
Collins has an "option" to buy Drury Lane
Harris' humour German Opera and G. B. Shaw
band Sore-throated singers and sore-headed authors
Harris and his first backer His experience with a
" serio lady" in Glasgow He writes a cheque on the
back of a French menu for half a French play His
fortune.

ON Monday night, June 22nd, 1896, Augustus
Harris passed away at the Rxn^al Pavilion,
Folkestone. There then departed from this life one
of the most peculiar, popular, and genial personali-
ties that the British theatrical firmament has ever
known. His life has never been written, and I arn
not making any atlempt to Boswell the " Drurio-
lanus " of the 'Eighties and 'Nineties. It was
through the Yokes family going on strike on Febru-
ary 3rd in 1879 that Harris came into Drury Lane.
The exact notice which then closed the theatre was
as follows :

" Owing to a combination of unforeseen circum-
stances, this theatre is unavoidably closed for the
present.

" F. B. CHATTERTON

" (Sole Lessee and Manager) "

And it was through the uncertainty of the Gye-
Mapleson-Lago campaigns that lie acquired Covent
Garden in 1888. Again, in a letter to James
E 129



130 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Taylor, the friend of his father's, whom he seems
to have consulted on all his important ventures, he
says

" DEAR TAYLOR,

" I have taken Covent Garden. The only
person I have to fear is Sir Michael Costa."

Sir Michael Costa was very bitter in his likes
and dislikes. He objected once to Mapleson offer-
ing Offenbach a position as conductor, and his
hatred for the elder Augustus Harris led him to
make the following reference to the younger one,
who was standing on the stage one day.

" Who is that young man ? " he said to Mapleson,
for whom the future " Druriolanus " was acting as
stage manager. " He seems to know his business,
but I think I heard you call him Harris. Can he
be the son of my old enemy? "

Mapleson tried to explain away the fact, but
Costa would not have it, remarking that " the father
has shown himself my enemy, and I am the enemy
of the son." Nice sympathetic man, Costa.

Early in Harris' career he encountered a young
actor named Arthur Collins, who had previously
been apprenticed to Henry Emden, the scenic artist.
Collins had already served an apprenticeship in
Carter's Seed S tores in Holborn, but when he joined
the Hai'ris regime, he was first sent on tour to play
eight parts a night in " Human Nature," and later
as stage manager of a pantomime that Harris was
running at the Grand Theatre, Glasgow. From
there to Drury Lane was a quick transit, and for
many years before Harris' death experience had
shown that the real man behind the wheel was un-
doubtedly the present managing director of the
famous house. When Harris was taken seriously
ill at Folkestone, the possibility of losing his old
chief so prostrated Collins that on the day of the
impresario's death he went home ill, tired and
broken-hearted, and was not at the theatre at night
when the sad news arrived. Personally, I was
anxiously awaiting the dreaded news at Gatti's,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 131

with the two brothers, Agostino and Stephano,
Boyle Lawrence and Fred G. Latham, when the
" Daily Mail," to which Lawrence was attached,
'phoned it through about n o'clock; but the first
intimation that came to the stage manager was a
telegram to his flat at 3 a.m.

" Meet body at Charing Cross at eight."

This prostrated Collins for some weeks, but time
was getting on, and the executors in due course
gave him an option to purchase the theatre with
no time limit (this was rather important) and
the proviso that an interim drama season " The
Duchess of Coolgardie " by John Coleman, and a
pantomime on Harrisian lines, taking over the
existing Harrisian engagements, should be done by
the Executors.

On the first night of the Coleman drama, poor
old John might have been heard in front of the
curtain, thanking " kind friends in front for the
dear, delightful reception of my play," and hoping
that he " may be permitted to tread in the foot-
steps of his late dear friend, Augustus Harris, for
many years to come in the G-r-a-n-d old National
Theatre," etc.

Now, at this time, young Mr. Collins was walk-
ing up and down the scene dock with an option to
buy Drury Lane in his pocket.

Harris had a great humour, and allowed all about
him even to tell stories at his expense, generally
joining in them with a good relish. At the time
that he acquired (after the original production by
The Carl Rosa Company) " Hansel and Gretel," he
was rather amused at the tiresome iteration of the
Woodman's song with its senseless " Tra-la-la,"
and one evening he remarked, " Glover, why can't
1 go and live in a wood free from all my worries,
and loll about all day singing ' Tra-la-la '?'' So
Arthur Sturgess and I immediately sat down and
mapped out a burlesque on " Hansel and Gretel,"
making the principal part a retired Inverness-caped
impresario who had sold out all his effects and only
wanted to bask in the beautiful sunshine. Harris
was delighted and loved to sing :



133 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

THE SONG OF THE THEATRICAL MANAGER.

(Resting-)

" I'm tired of the garden, I'm sick of the Lane,

Of operas and dramas and such ;
Too much pantomime isn't good for the brain

And I've had a great deal too much.
With ballet rehearsals my life is a curse,

No minute can I call my own ;
And so I've decided before I get worse,
To dally with Nature alone.

Tra-la-la (ad lib)

" I've twenty new plays to produce in a week,

The 'panto' rehearsals are nigh;
I've critics to conquer and speeches to speak

And Heaven-born actors to try,
But let them all wait, I'm tired of such things

A manager's heart isn't stone,
And great is the joy and relief that it brings
To frolic with Nature alone.

Tra-la-la (ad lib)"

Then I woke up one morning, alas ! to find, to
the intense grief of the entire world, that the
theatrical manager was " resting " for evermore,
and the painful applicability of the foregoing verses
accentuated the fact that the two people concerned
in its authorship were, with almost fatal supersti-
tion, humorously making reference to the cessation
of work which, if acted upon, might have prolonged
the life of one of the greatest theatrical impresarii
of the Victorian era Augustus Glossop Harris, Kt.

As I have remarked, the most marvellous thing
about his work was the fact that the distribution of
all his vast wealth was at every point and corner
punctuated with a vein of humour and a light-
hearted touch which made the greater the work
the greater the pleasure for everybody concerned.
May I recall one or two humorous incidents of that
great era of management ?

Shortly after the production of "A Life of
Pleasure," being in want of a leading man for the
provincial tour, an agent sent to Drury Lane a



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 133

popular provincial favourite, with this admonition :
" Don't be afraid to ask a lot of money. Harris
will like you all the better for it." Arrived at
Drury Lane, the provincial Thespian put on his
best airs and graces, and in answer to a query as
to terms said, " Well, Sir Augustus, I think I'm
worth 30 a week." "What? Thirty pounds a
week for a provincial tour ? You must be mad,
dear boy! Mad! ! What do you take me for? "
A long pause, and then suddenly came the reply.
" But then," said the actor, remembering his
agent's admonition, " you see what I'll draw, Sir
Augustus." " Draw," thundered the impresario,
"Draw! Do you know that I can hire a Maxim
gun for fifty shillings a week that will draw the
whole of London? "

On the following Saturday in the same season we
did the " Valkyrie " at Drury Lane in German,
with Max Alvary and Frau Klafsky, Herr Lohse
conducting for the first time in England. Harris
prided himself on the band always a big Wag-
nerian desideratum, and as the blind Earl Dysart,
Chairman of the Wagnerian Society, had inter-
viewed us on the subject he was over anxious on
this score and noticing G. Bernard Shaw (then
musical critic for "The World") talking to me,
called me aside and asked me to introduce him. I
didn't quite know Shaw's point of view, and as
he had been railing at me for reinstating him on
the first-night sheet, asserting that I had spoiled his
holidays, and that he only came because the dying
Edmund Yates in handing him the tickets did so
with a kind of " Be-kind-to-Harris-my-last-dying-
wish " look paused. Harris noticed Shaw's
hesitation, and placing himself between us took
the initiative: "How do you do, Mr. Shaw?
Glover tells me you are old friends. What do you
think of the opera to-night? " " Oh, very good/'
replied England's future dramatist, " very good "
and then a lull. A long deadly pause. Harris
looked at Shaw. Shaw looked at me a silence
to be broken by the not-to-be-denied manager.
" And," continued Harris, " what do you think of



i 3 4 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

the band yes, the band ? Isn't it splendid ? " I
saw it coming. Another long pause. Another look
at me, and Shaw thus pushed in a corner said,
" Yes, they're not bad not bad but I think
they've wonderfully deteriorated since I heard
them last on the Sunday boat going to Hampton
Court."

There are two reasons why Harris purchased the
" Sunday Times " of which he was one time the
Proprietor with James Willing. One was that it
had been suggested that he did not collaborate
substantially in those dramas in which his name
appeared as Collaborator, and having issued a writ
against one paper the " World," I think which,
on this question, went so far as to state that he
could not write anything, he immediately became
the Proprietor of the " Sunday Times," and pro-
ceeded to write a column of notes every week on
anything and everything, headed " Here, There,
and Everywhere," and signed it " The Knight
Errant." " When the trial comes on," he remarked
to me, " I will produce the original MSS. of these
articles for twelve months, and then what price
my writing anything?" He afterwards sold the
" Sunday Times " to Mr. Lewis Edmunds, K.C.,
for a Mrs. Beer. The second reason why he wanted
the " Sunday Times " was that he took umbrage at
a notice in the " Referee " about one of the Drury
Lane productions, and Henry Sampson then doing
the Handbook on the front page, let the Knight of
Drury Lane have one of the severest dressings down
that journalist has ever administered to player.
A rather humorous contretemps occurred subse-
quently with the " Era " when Harris thought that
he had a splendid opportunity of getting his own
back on the " Referee." As a result of the
" Referee " criticism the Drury Lane advertise-
ments were withdrawn from that paper, and at
this time Mr. Edward Ledger, the proprietor of the
" Era," had inserted a critical paragraph about Sir
Charles Wyndham, the good taste of which was
resented by all the London managers, headed by
Sir Henry Irving. It was then decided as a protest



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 135

to make a wholesale withdrawal of all the London
theatre advertisements from the " Era," and on
Harris being asked to co-operate and remove his
various enterprises from the " Era's " advertising
column he made it a sine qua non of his doing so
that the London managers should likewise support
him in his action towards the " Referee." This of
course they all refused to do and so it came about
that six of London's leading managers one Sunday
morning announced in the " Observer " that they
had that day withdrawn their support from the
" Era." This was one of the many little battles of
peevishness which in those days more or less
amused the theatrical world at large, but now we
have grown more open-minded, and " brotherly-
love," if it does not universally exist, at least is
not battledore-and-shuttlecocked about so much in
public.

But it is strange to reflect how all these mana-
gerial whims run in grooves. It was thought that
Augustus Harris was the first manager to own a
Sunday paper, but he was only emulating his
Drury Lane predecessor, E. T. Smith, who in the
'Sixties was the proprietor of the very same
" Sunday Times." But Smith even went farther in
his managerial eccentricities, for he stood for
Parliament and went down into Bedfordshire and
opposed the Duke of Bedford, his own landlord's
nominee, in a general election. He polled 101 and
lost ^2000.

In a wonderfully sympathetic and graphic
manner, my friend Mr. Clement Scott used to
describe the starting of Drury Lane and the dis-
covery in Hyde Park of one of the gentlemen who
originally helped Harris in his finance. This friend
invited young Harris home to dinner, and it was
a peculiar irony of Fate that that dinner, whereat
he was lent ^250 to start serious theatrical life,
took place in the very house where all the success-
ful Harris Drury Lane pantomimes and dramas
were concocted, and was at the time of his death
his residence.

The gentleman in question (it is no secret) was



136 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Mr. Frank Neck, who subsequently sold him his
St. John's Wood house, " The Elms." When
Harris went into Opera at Convent Garden, he
bought his partner out, as he said, " Neck and
crop " for ; 1 2,000.

There was nothing he enjoyed so much in life as
a joke against himself. One evening, entering a
place of entertainment in Glasgow, called " The
Garden of Eden," in company with Arthur Collins
and a well-known actor, Mr. Victor Stevens, a lady
performer thought that the three had laughed im-
moderately at her singing. As a matter of fact,
the Drury Lane trio were not laughing at the lady,
but at the situation for to keep off the nightly
intrusion of a rowdy gang of Glasgow students the
manager had erected iron bars in front of the foot-
lights and the ludicrous situation akin to the per-
forming bear at the Zoological Gardens tickled the
risible faculties of the manager and his friends.
The lady, however, took the ridicule as personal,
and later on in the evening when she came among
the audience to dispense chocolates and cigarettes
a portion of her nightly duties she " went for "
the scoffers as follows :

" Just like three pro's, who come in on the nod,
to come here and ' guy ' me ! I know } 7 ou, Mr.
Victor Stevens " (this to the well-known actor) ;
" And nobody could mistake you ! " (this to
Collins); "And I'm certain you're an actor too! "
(this to Augustus Harris). This was too much for
Gus, he ceased his volcanic hilarity, immediately
jumped up, clasped the bewildered artiste by both
hands, saying : " Thank you, madam, for those few
kind words ! I have been called a great many
things in my life, but this is the first time I have
been called an actor."

In Paris, Fred Horner took us, Harris, Collins
and Self, one night to see " Champignol Malgre
Lui," with a view to Sir Augustus buying a
half-interest therein, which he did as he liked the
piece so much ; and we had supper afterwards. In
the middle of the supper, Horner anxiously ejacu-
lated : " What about the money and the contract,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 137

Sir Augustus?" "Money, Contract!! Bring me
a pen and ink " (this to the waiter), and taking
up the menu in the Cafe de Paris, he wrote
across it :

" 1 hereby purchase half all rights in ' Cham-
pignol Malgre Lui ' for ^300."

He then tossed it back peevishly to Horner and
said, " Take that to Drury Lane on Tuesday morn-
ing and they'll give you a cheque. De Reszke,
Melba, and hundreds of others never had a contract
with me. The word of ' Sir Harris ' was always
good enough for them." He was hurt at this, and
three days afterwards sold out his interest in the
play.

This was quite true. There was no man whose
word was more universally taken. The day
following his death Neil Forsyth and I walked
down to Coutts' Bank to adjust matters, as we
found that at least ^3000 of cheques had not been
passed through which had been in the hands of
Calve, De Reszke, Melba, and other artistes for quite
a number of days.

As I have just mentioned Fred Horner the follow-
ing episode in connection with his short Parlia-
mentary career may not be out of place.

In our theatrical way, we often had to help one
another apart from financial assistance. During
the 1900 Khaki election, Fred Horner, then a
London Parliamentary candidate, appealed to
Arthur Collins to lend him some Khaki uniforms
for supers to handbill and canvass the district on
the Surrey side. This might be a " corrupt
practice," but Collins good-naturedly sent the future
M.P. to Morris Angel's in Shaftesbury Avenue,
and in due course on the morning of the election
fifty supers were patrolled in uniform on the
Thames Embankment opposite to Scotland Yard to
receive instructions for the election campaign,
which embraced an area in the Southwark district
over Westminster Bridge. Now Colonel Brookfield
(Charlie Brookfielcl's brother) had just then got an
Act passed making it an offence for any one to
ridicule or use the Queen's uniform other than a



138 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

man in the service; so when the candidate arrived
at Westminster Bridge he found the fifty supers
more or less under arrest for degrading the service
cloth. Explanations followed, they being liberated
on all their names and addresses being taken, so
off they went electioneering. The war being just
then over, as each one of them entered various
hostelries in the Southwark area they were received
as " back from the war," feted, wined, beered, and
incapacitated for their work. The uniforms never
turned up again, and it is said that four of the
group are missing to this very day.

When Augustus Harris decided that the big
scene in a pantomime should be " The History of
England in Twenty Minutes," he would not take
Collins' word that it was impossible, and Collins
was right, for on the first night it lasted one hour
and forty minutes. It was the most tiresome yet
humorous thing to rehearse that I ever experienced.
" W T here's Joan of Arc? " shouted Harris. " Gone
to the Albion," a neighbouring hostelry, " with
William the Conqueror," replied the call-boy.
" Oh, Henry the Eighth, for goodness' sake do look
as if you really had eight wives ! " "I cawnt,
guv'nor," replied Henry the Eighth, " I've got one
at home and she's a packet I can tell you ! "
Then the first night came and everj^thing went
well till we got to Charles the First. " Charles
the First where is he?" Nowhere to be found,
and so we had to pass on without Charles the
First. " Mr. Dick could not keep Charles the
First's head out of his memorial," wrote Mr.
"Spectator" Walkley in "The Star," "but Sir
Augustus kept his head, body and shoulders out
of the History of England." When Arthur Collins
rushed out and burst into the dressing-room to find
the missing monarch and give him " instant execu-
tion," Charles the First was with Cardinal Wolsey,
with his legs crossed sitting on a table playing
cards and smoking a cigarette, for he " didn't know
it was so near."

Shortly before his death, we had a supper party
at Gatti's to an old bachelor friend on his



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 139

marriage. Across the menu card, in response to a
request for his autograph, Harris wrote :

" To all of this a long farewell
And so say all of us."

He little knew how soon the sands of Father
Time would run out in his own case.

Harris really died a very rich man. His estate
realized about ^100,000, for it included Drury Lane
four years' lease to run; Theatrical scenery;
Opera scenery bought by Covent Garden Syndicate ;
" The Little Genius " production; various sundries;
and, of course, his copyrights were all good negoti-
able effects.

To mention Drury Lane and Augustus Harris
without a reference to the famous Yokes family
would be an unpardonable oversight, for it was
during Chatterton's last pantomime at Drury Lane
when the "ghost did not walk," and the celebrated
Yokes Family struck, that the Theatre closed, and
ultimately fell into Harris' hands. The brothers
A. and S. Gatti were at this time running a panto-
mime at Covent Garden, and being financially sound
they were better able to weather the terrible snow-
storm of 1879 which led to the great Chatterton
" frost." Harris did not bear any ill will towards
the " family " and immediately retained them for
his first season.

The Yokes Family were one of the cleverest and
most talented troupes of the mid-Victorian Era.
They came out of the old Surrey School, and
consisted of Victoria, Rosina, Jessie, and Fred.
Victoria and Jessie never married, but Rosina
became the first wife of that dear old Bohemian and
English gentleman Cecil Clay, brother of Frederick
Clay, composer of " She wandered down the
Mountain Side " and " I'll sing thee songs of
Araby," who, it may be remembered, died suddenly
after the production of his opera " The Golden
Ring " at the Alhambra.

Poor Fred Yokes was a wonderful dancer, and
also a very fine black-and-white artist, and I have
several specimens of his pen-and-ink work one of



140 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

which is of exceptional interest. As we were both
watching the Jubilee procession of Queen Victoria
in 1887 at Liverpool, a catastrophe happened to a
triumphal arch shortly after Her Majesty had passed
through. Fred immediately sketched the situation
in my presence a remarkable piece of fine work !

The family had a repertoire of very humorous
one-act plays, and in the interim seasons between
pantomime times toured the provinces. As their
musical major-domo I spent many years with them,
and scoured the country from John O 'Groat's to
Land's End.

I remember once poor Fred, who was mad on
yachting, elected to sail from Plymouth to Torquay
rather than accompany us by the usual train route.
Arrived at Torquay, we found the door of the
Theatre besieged with a huge crowd awaiting
admission, but Fred was nowhere to be seen, and
without him we could do nothing. So we had to
return the money a matter of about eighty pounds
much to the public disappointment. A hue and
cry was started for the missing dancer, but nothing
heard till dusk set in, when distress rockets illumin-
ated the skies over Torquay Bay. Out went the
lifeboat, to return about 3 a.m. with poor Fred
tired to the world from excessive rowing and
starving with hunger the yacht had got becalmed
in the Channel.

On another occasion they lashed him to the mast
of a fishing smack, and he had to be ransomed by
his own manager for ^5 the purchase-money of a
boat of some hundreds of mackerel he had ordered
to be sent home to his dear mother, " because she
liked to get it fresh." To wander on the harbours
of fishing villages and buy huge consignments of
this sort of goods was a perfect madness with him.

We generally spent the entire day boating, row-
ing, driving, or enjoying ourselves in some fashion ;
anything like serious thought never entered our
minds. Of three musical directors, two at least
were famous poor Hamilton Clarke, who was with
Irving for many years at the Lyceum and Sidney
Jones, composer of " The Geisha," " San Toy,"



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 141

etc. Clarke was a military band-master once, and
in nearly every case did the " overtures " for the
Sullivan-Gilbert operas. Sir Arthur has more than
once acknowledged this. One of the pet jokes of
this company was harmonized versions of the
sayings, " Oh, what a liar you are! " and " Well
I'm d d." The first of these was done in four-
part harmony. We usually paraded the towns in
quartettes. We seldom divided. On entering any
hostelry, hotel, or other public place, we generally
found some great Isaak Waltoniau expert a
" when-I-was-out-in-the-Indian- Jungle " Bombastes
or some actor who " drew a hundred pounds a night
in Hamlet." So we set out to amuse ourselves at
the expense of these little life's vanities so prevalent
at health-resort bars. The procedure was simple :

Scene : The Royal Hotel, Southport. Smok-
ing room full of visitors. New
week-end arrival tilting a tooth-pick
with the bar Hebe, and sipping a
gin-and-bitters, " Don't-you-know."
N.W.E.A. Yes, deah ! I remember quite plainly
we went fishing on the Tay and do
you know that one day I caught ten
salmon weighing forty pounds each.

(Now by this time we i.e. the Vokes quartette,
may have entered the bar and caught the last line,
of might have been sitting waiting for our prey;
so on the words " Weighing forty pounds each "
one of us Hamilton Clarke, Sidney Jones or the
present writer would hum a sort of la-la-la-la in
the octave to give the pitch, and the glee party
thus led off chimed in :



Oh, what a li ar you are !



142 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Of course, this usually brought some sort of remon-
strance " What the devil do you mean,_how dare
you ! " but it all ended in hospitality and
business.) We varied this refrain with a shorter
one in unison, to be used when we had to go out
in duets or trios. It was-:



$


T*


^


==





Well, I'm d Shish 1

While on one of the Yokes' tours living with a
good old friend Sidney Harcourt, at the end of a
week in Edinburgh the landlady charged us a
shilling for the " cruet," i.e. mustard and salt, etc.
We at first refused to pay, and she locked us in
our room till we ultimately did so, too late, how-
ever, to catch our train, so we had (in order to be
in time for our engagements at the next town) to
charter a special, at a cost of nine pounds. That
was the dearest pepper and salt I ever enjoyed.

Then again one night in Dublin on a Lord Lieu-
tenant's " Command " night, an ex-Lord Mayor, one
of the Iveagh family, Sir Benjamin Guinness, the
proprietor of Guinness' XX Stout, entered the
Royal Box. " Three cheers for the ex-Lord Mayor ! "
shouted a gallery jackeen. " No, Larry," replied
a kindred spirit, " three cheers for the XX Lord
Mayor."

Once when I was on tour we opened at East
Grinstead with Charles Collette to discover that we
had no band, its place being taken by a grand
piano on which I had to officiate. During a dance
the legs of the piano gave way, and pinned me to
the floor, and had it not been for the turned-in legs
which kept the heavy instrument a few inches from
the ground, both my pedal supports would have
been irretrievably crushed.



CHAPTER IX

How Arthur Collins floated Drury Lane His many
disappointments Invalid, peevish, and recalcitrant
stars Leno and his humours " Born " and " made "
Leno and Campbell fall out of a balloon " G.G.'s"
telegram The early discovery of Leno and its later
bearings The old pantomime and the new The old
whistling top gallery Spectacle, humour, and music-
hall turns Civic honours.

THE one believer in the future Drury Lane was
its present managing director. He received
from Augustus Harris' executors an option which
passed through many vicissitudes. It was yearned
after by dozens of people, City syndicates, actor-
managers, vStock Exchange speculators, et hoc
genus omnc. The eleventh hour arrived in due
course (time was, naturally, the essence of the
option), and although there was no date for com-
pletion, he foresaw a crisis imminent, and it duly
arrived in the form of a request from the
deceased manager's executors that the sum of one
thousand pounds would be required in forty-eight
tours on account of the purchase, to keep the option
alive (this option carried the remainder of Harris'
lease and the entire theatre equipment, lock, stock
and barrel) . One thousand pounds ! ! ! None of us
had it, or knew for the moment where to find it.
At last, on the eve of the expiry of the option, we
were all fearfully anxious to keep the historic
house in its present hands, it came about that
Arthur Collins found a good fairy with the requisite
four figures, and into the executors' offices in
143



144 JIMMY GLOVER HLS BOOK

Victoria Street entered " Druriolanus II." and his
solicitor.

" One thousand pounds ! " requested the legal
representative of the executors, Lady Harris, and
Mr. Frank B. Rendle, her brother.

" My cheque for the amount," replied Arthur
Collins as he sat down and wrote out the famous
document. This was not quite what was antici-
pated, as it was thought that the first " refusal "
would fall through, and that the second option
in the hands of Mr. Oscar Barrett, who had been
associated with the Interregnum pantomime
would be exercised. But it was so, and thus for
a second time in its career the passing over of
Drury Lane from one management to another was
sensationally carried out remembering in 1879
Chatterton's failure, the Voices Family strike, lead-
ing to Harris' triumphal entry and subsequent
successful regime.

Arthur Collins stuck to his guns. All sorts of
proposals and suggestions were made to him by
people who knew nothing about " how to run the
Lane," but he has adhered to his policy good
drama and pantomime and the result has been
amply justified for fifteen years, a record of which
successes appears at the end of this volume. The
first play was " The White Heather." We opened
on a Thursday night. On the Saturday following,
when all England was hailing the success of the
new regime, something went wrong with the
hydraulic lift used in the lock scene. The large
cylinders burst, leaving an enormous cavity of
hundreds of feet deep fast filling with tons of
water. A huge house of about five hundred pounds
cash value was waiting impatiently for the rising
of the curtain and commencement of the play,
which ultimately had to be abandoned, the audience
sent away, and the money returned. But we were
faced with a novel situation. Nearly all the money,
owing to the great success of the play, was
" booked money," i.e. monies taken beforehand at
the booking-office pit and gallery excepted and
I had to go on, at the request of Arthur Collins, to



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 145

explain that all the receipts would be returned or
se^ts exchanged for another evening. But \ve were
in\his horrible dilemma : we had hardly any ready
cas. to return ! It was all banked early in the
day. So out into the by-ways and surrounding
stree$ Collins despatched the various heads of the
staff-all well known and trusted in the district
to tin Hummums and Tavistock Hotels, Globe,,
GattiX Romano's, or any hostelry where we were
identified some of us hatless and top-coatless in
pelting tain proffering our own hastily-writtea
I.O.U.'s f or gold, silver, and even copper any-
thing, soVmg as it represented bullion which we
carted bac\ (nearly all in pewter measures) to re-
turn to an vnxious, naturally excited mob, one-half
of whom suspected trouble, and the other half sus-
pected a hug^ advertising " coup." A new manage-
ment! ! a htch on the third night!! something,
wrong? any hazardous surmise was attempted.
But nothing Zv'ix wrong, and thus ended the only
breakdown that ias ever taken place at Drury Lane
about which the ^tdience knew anything, or which
prevented the already advertised performance.

One of the moat impressive incidents during
this scene of managerial anxiety was dear old Mrs.
John Wood kissing Arthur Collins and telling him
all would be right on Monday, what time I was in
front explaining the " Accident." We always sus-
pected treachery here, because a few nights later
the goldfish used in the lank for the great diving
scene were poisoned, and had we not found it out
in time, the best situation in the play would have
gone wrong, and a second contretemps in one week
would not have done us any good.

The present management has really had some
first-night trials with artistes which would have
soured a different temperament, but they have been
stolidly faced and conquered, all with a charitable
good humour and optimism. We rang up one
Boxing Night without " a Principal Boy." But
the lady in question, that clever conscientious
artiste, Miss Nellie Stewart, insisted on coming^
down to show herself to the management and



146 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

personally explain her hoarseness and offer to " pill
through," but her own representative, Mr. Ge^'ge
Musgrove, stood in her dressing-room, insisted -hat
she was ill, and refused to allow her to go on. And
she did not, her part being taken by Miss lollie
Lowell at a moment's notice, who was hanc^d, as
he came off the stage, fifty pounds that sane even-
ing by the grateful manager for her opportune
services.

Nellie Stewart had made a success in a previous
pantomime as Ganem, in " The Forty Thieves."
From New York on Boxing Night her hisband sent
'her a telegram :

" As you come on for heaven's sale smile and
.look pleasant."

Another Boxing Night contrctemprwas when Miss
Amelia Stone (principal girl) faint-'d at the end of
the first part, and could not cont'nue the perform-
ance. The next day Mr. Colins' lady typist
gallantly went on and read the part. Yet a third
was when Mr. Harry Rand?d caught cold on
Christmas Eve and had to stp off ; and a fourth
was when another artist annoyed at being required
to speak his lines correctly after four weeks'
rehearsal " walked out o r the theatre " the day
'before the dress rehearsal, i-C. on Christmas Eve.
His offer to return on Boxing Night was not
accepted, and as there ^ras a negative clause in his
-contract, he had to cool his London heels for twelve
weeks at a loss of an average hundred pounds a
week twelve hundred pounds. That is what I call
Napoleonic management.

I often wonder why it is that actors who take
large salaries in musical productions do not know
the double duty they owe to both manager and
public. It is an insult to the public and a breach
<of faith to the other the manager not to do your
"business properly, and at least learn the lines set
out for the general excellence of the performance.
'The author is always entitled to a run for his money
with his lines. To cut them out or substitute



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 147

uigrammatical drivel is dishonest, disgusting, and
disheartening. " Gag," the interpolated impromptu,
in i^ason is, of course, useful, but the greatest of all
muscal plays, the greatest succession of all suc-
cesses and the greatest classics of the light music
drains have all been achieved by adhering strictly
to theVuthor's lines I mean the " Savoy ' library,
and ye\ because the distinguished litterateur in-
sisted o\ this natural prerogative, he was always
slanderously represented as a very disagreeable
person. Vever was such calumny ever invented.

Dan LeV> started with the Collins' regime at
about ,So week. He finished at ^240 for twelve
performances, i.e. 20 a night. Although this looks
princely, it $ really a small fee. It is the general
impression tl\at Leno " improvised " everything at
Drury Lane. Never was there a greater error.
Leno was a " bailder," but without an " architect "
he could do nothing. Nearly everything in which
he succeeded at *he Lane he was " written for."
Every song he worked was supplied him by his
own pet poet, Herbert Darnley. I don't say this
in detriment to Harris, but Leno's successes with
Harris were as nothing compared to his triumphs
with Collins. Harris let him come on and simply
" be Dan Leno." Collins thought out the Leno>
style, and gave him the Leno material for the Leno
triumph. Every funny situation or scene was built
for him, first by the producer, and then written
round by the librettist. He had the least initiative
sense of humour of any one I ever met ; once pro-
vided with the material he had the best contributory
and constructive power. He wanted " cut out " as
being useless nearly every scene which has made
his great fame and the pantomime share of our big
dividends. A few cases in point. One has only to>
remember the horse-poisoning scene in " The Babes
in the Wood," or the airship scene in " Mother
Goose," or the company promoting scene in " The
Forty Thieves." Each of these effects, which shook
London with legitimate laughter for weeks and
weeks, Leno condemned as " unfunny " at rehearsal ;
but Collins was adamant, and when these inter-



248 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

polatious had succeeded in drawing all Loncbn
and made the Metropolis laugh for months, the
manager's discretion was justified. But the Jttle
comedian could really " build " on any Leno-sque
-structure, and in this way lay his peculiar a)ilit} 7 .
One Leno pantomime under Harris was quoted
as the comedian's biggest success, but the rranager
lost ;8ooo.

He had a most wonderful, artistic vanity, which
once led him into a curious juxtaposition with the
late Sir Henry Irving. The Lyceum knight was a
.great admirer of the pantomime man, and the
admiration was well reciprocated. Rw of the
public who often went to the Tivoli -O find that
" Owing to sudden indisposition Mr Dan Leno
would not appear " were aware that tie " indisposi-
tion " took the form of two stalls for himself and
"his wife at the Lyceum for some new Irvinesque
play.

Of all the Irving repertoire that he liked,
"' Richard III." took his fancy best, and as the little
man was a bit of an artist a fact which very much
assisted his make-ups he rnanaged to develop a
fairly good portrait of the hunchback king for a
prize dress at one of the Covent Garden Balls, and
there one thought it might have ended.

Not so Leno perhaps is was a symptom of the
future debacle, for Dan made up his mind to appear
as " Richard III." somewhere somehow and
quite serously. Now Irving always looked forward
to the Theatrical Fund Benefit at Drury
Lane as his one annual personal enjoyment of the
Drury Lane funny man. So when he told his
dresser not to let him " miss the incomparable Mr.
Leno," the Lyceum actor soon found himself stand-
ing in the prompt entrance at the Drury Lane
matinee till Leno's number went up. What was our
astonishment to find that the little comedian, in-
stead of rushing on and asking everybody, " Do you
know Mrs. Kelly?" or the Soliloquy on Eggs
<( there are eggs (two kinds) : Eggs and Election
gg s " or other gems of his humorous repertoire,
walked straight on, seriously made up as " Richard



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 149

III," and equally seriously ladled out a soliloquy
frora that work. Protest was useless; Irving stood
in the prompt entrance annoyed dumbfounded
and almost disgusted, for lie was soon to follow on
the same spot at the same matinee with " The
Dream of Eugene Aram." Leno wandered on; the
audience sat aghast as he gave certain supposed
" imitations " of the great Lyceum tragedian by this
time white with rage in the wings, till at length,
realizing the awakening of the audience to the real
portent of the pitiable scene, Leno suddenly grasped
the situation, did a double shuffle (a dancer's step),
advanced to the footlights and said to me, " Play a
hornpipe, Jimmy," and Richard the Third went off
to roaring laughter, doing the old college hornpipe.

Sandringham ruined him. He never recovered
from his visit to the late King Edward's party. It
is reported that his visit came about in this way.
The Duke of Fife, selecting a play for Princess
Maud's birthday festivities, decided upon
" Scrooge," with Seymour Hicks from the Vaude-
ville. " But," said Dan in telling the story, " His
Majesty wanted something more funny. ' Ah, ha !
there you are! ' said the ' Dook,' " i.e. the Duke of
"Fife, continued Leno, " ' Scrooge ' is something
Iunn3% but something to make the children
laugh ? ' ' This may or may not be true, but it is
on record that the Queen did ask for "the funny
man from Drury Lane," and so it came about that
Leno was requisitioned.

About this time Leno stuck exclusively to port
wine, and after the Sandringham performance, while
lie was dressing for supper, one of the King's
Equerries asked him his taste in liquid refreshment,
suggesting some fine old port vintage " we have in
the Royal cellars." "Ha! ha!" said Leno,
delighted, " that's me a bottle of fine old port not
too much crust on it my teeth are bad."

One of Dan's best stories was about his wife who
made the pancakes, but instead of frying them in
the pan, fried them on the gridiron " all went into
the fire don't-you-know, burnt." This story some-
how or other went very flat at Sandringham, so



150 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

when the Equerry returned with the requisite pert,
he remarked as he rilled the comedian's glass, " I
say, Mr. Leno ha-ha-ha you must not be down-
hearted at the pool way that pancake joke of /ours
went ha-ha-ha ! You see, none of these people I
must laugh ever saw a gridiron in their lives,
but I saw the joke oh, dear, Mr. Leno, do excuse
me for you must know I have seen a gridiron
ha-ha-ha it really was funny! "

One more instance may be pardoned of his great
powers of grasping a situation when it was pre-
sented to him. He always wanted to try and
preserve the dramatic unities. He would take every
play that he appeared in seriously from the drama
point of view. To see him arguing with Herbert
Campbell as to why Jack did climb the beanstalk,
or as to the true inwardness of Bluebeard's real
homicidal tendencies, or the inconsistencies of
Mother Goose really possessing a goose that laid
twenty-two carat gold eggs these were really
sublime moments.

A Mr. Milton Bode engaged him to tour a sort of
musical play called " Orlando Dando," and Leno
made it a stipulation that he should only attend the
last week's rehearsal, so the previous three weeks"
preparations had to take place in his absence. The
first scene was in a barber's shop ; the hero the
title-role played by Leno was a hairdresser. On
the first morning that the comedian did attend,
rehearsal there was great anxiety as to what his.
real opinion would be as to the merits of the play-
as a vehicle for his humours, and he was asked to
make any suggestion to improve his part. I think
therefore, I had better put what occurred into actual
dialogue form.

SCENE A Barber's Shop. The whole act is gone-
through with Leno watching it and making notes,
as he went along. To him, on the stage, crowd,
round Milton Bode, the manager, Captain Basil
Hood the author and this dialogue takes place :

LENO : I see, we have the opening chorus of fifty
ladies and gentlemen in my barber's shop.

CAPTAIN HOOD : Yes.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 151

LENO : Then the two lovers meet and arrange a
love meeting, and sing a long love duet in my
barber's shop ?

MILTON BODE : Yes, quite right.

LENO : Then we have the Four High-Kicking
Flappers of Tillerland; they do their number, and
get a well-deserved encore in my barber's shop ?

BODE : Yes.

LENO : Then we have three or four more
choruses, a rollicking quartette, a patriotic song,
and, in fact, everybody who is anybody comes on,
does what they like make appointments, do what
they like with the till, dance, sing songs, do breaks
downs all in my shop!

BODE : Yes, Dan, that's quite right, and it all
only lasts one hour, this act.

LENO : But don't you think it about time that
I shaved somebody ? (Tableau.)

With us he was always assisted ably and con-
scientiously by dear old Herbert Campbell. Herbert
was a good stand-by, and we miss him every year.
He had, however, a horrible objection to chaff. A
wire broke one night in the airship scene, and
dropped Leno and Campbell on to the stage just
a shaking up. Campbell's twenty stone fell first,
Leno's eleven stone on top of him. Had it been the
other way about the results might have been dis-
astrous. The papers were full of it next day, when
there was a matinee performance, for which George
Grossmith had provided himself with a private box.
George wired Leno and Campbell :

" Dear Dan and Herbert. Do please fall out of
the balloon again to-day. I want a good laugh.
" GEORGE GROSSMITH "

" D d silly rot ! " said Herbert. " Might have

been a matter of life and death so silly to joke
about such a thing. Push off the Pier, Sons of
Phoenix all." " Push off the Pier," was a slang-
ism for " drinks-round " always used by Campbell
as an alternative to " have a cup of tea." " Sons of



152 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

the Phoenix " is a philanthropic Tontine Society
who carry on large excursions in the summer at the
seaside, and for whose charity smoking concerts
Herbert was always generously useful.

Every one knows that Leno came from the Surrey,
via Charlie Hawtrey's " Atalanta " at the Strand.
Hawtrey heard of the Surrey success, which also
caused Augustus Harris to engage him. He played
in the second edition of " Atalanta," with the hand-
some Alma Stanley, and made a first-night failure
into a quasi second-notice success; but Manchester
claimed the beautiful Alma for the pantomime, and
Drury Lane claimed Leno. As the present writer
described it at the time :

" The booking went up, up, up.
They threatened to draw the Town,
When Alma and Leno
Were not to be seen-o
The bookings went down, down, down."

Alma Stanley I now find has developed into a
clever Suffragette lecturer, and is fit and well.

The Drury Lane pantomime has wonderfully
metamorphosed in the last three decades. From
E. T. Smith, 1862, to Chatterton, 1879, and on to the
present day, the three periods have been instructive.
It is ridiculous for people to state that pantomime
has declined. It has not declined ; it has only
changed but increased its public. In Chatterton's
time, the " Opening " was quite a modest affair,
and was once produced in September, and the
harlequinade which was added on Boxing Night
became somewhat more elaborate ; but Chatterton's
public was a few rows of five-shilling or seven-
shilling stalls, a huge eightpenny pit, and a seeth-
ing mass of sixpenny and fourpenny galleryites,
who cat-called the " opening " on Boxing Night till
not a word on the stage was heard. The shilling
pit and the sixpenny gallery boy shouted the latest
music-hall songs. The better educated audience of
to-day is not the chorus-singing urchin or patron
of the 'Seventies. The top gallery disappeared under
the London County Council during the end of the



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 153

Harris management, and the stalls on Boxing Night
have developed into a kid-gloved army of dilettante
patrons, across whose apathetic well-dined and
gloriously-gloved personalities it is a far run to get
to the pit for a good honest round of applause. Few
people were ever able to account for the Early
Victorian hissing of " God Save the Queen," at
Drury Lane Boxing Night, till it was discovered
that the one siffleur was purposely put there to
arouse the loyalty of the entire house which ulti-
mately drowned with patriotic cheers the strains of
" Rule Britannia." This accounts for the tradition
that in a Drury Lane pantomime alone is Rule
Britannia allowed to follow the National Anthem.

Twenty-five years wandering over the British
Isles, many weeks aye, months I might say, never
having slept in the same bed twice, having
explored every hamlet or village in my professional
capacity, from John o' Groats to Land's End, I one
morning woke up to find myself the full-fledged
mayor of a South Coast watering town.

How it came about is past, and local, history, but
if I say that in combination of twenty-four aldermen
and cottncillors, at least twenty-one were my
esteemed friends and that the remaining three were
"Anti-Glover" in local politics, it will seem suffi-
ciently Irish if I say that it was the minority who
forced my election to my municipal dignity.

The most interesting attribute of a mayoralty in
my mind is the two years' ex-officio magistracy
which it automatically confers.

I must say that I always had an ambition that
way. " Get out of mi way, ye blag-guard," shouted
a Lord Mayor, Charles Dawson (in private life a
baker), one day, when he drove to the Mansion
House in Dublin, to a loafer who stopped his Lord-
ship's carriage. " Ah, go on wid ye, ye twelve
months' aristocrat!" retaliated the jackeen. So
did I often have an ambition to be a " twelve
months' aristocrat," and so it was achieved in 1905.

London dined me with T. P. O'Connor, M.P., in
the chair, and Marshall Hall, K.C., M.P., in the
vice-chair, and I felt that I had at least done some-



154 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

thing more or less out of the way for a travelling
musician.

I gave no banquet on the day of my election,
postponing it till a later date, when my dear friend,
Hall Caine, came down to honour me so I gladly
accepted the invitation to dine that evening with
the Mayor of Eastbourne.

" I beg your pardon, sir, but do you mind the
King wants to speak to you on the telephone."

This remark, which was made to me by a waiter
at this municipal banquet, was the first humorous
experience that I had of the real responsibilities of
my mayoral office. I hurriedly gulped the remain-
ing mouthful of " Sole-a-Za-something," and rushed
to the instrument, to find that having had a
message of thanks for the Mayor of Bexhill from
Sandringham, from His Majesty (to whom the
Council had that day sent the usual birthday con-
gratulation), the postal authorities refused to de-
liver the same unless to the Mayor personally ; so
I " took it off the 'phone." I then prepared to take
my new office very seriously.

It is one of the prerogatives of a South Coast sea-
side town, that no matter what endeavour in the
way of good you may make, some one will disagree
with you and even go so far as to inundate you
with anonymous letters giving you their opinion
of your worthlessness. This at one time, previous
to my mayoralty, became rather a nuisance; and
as I had been given to understand that locally it
was a common custom, and the locals attacked
could not afford to retaliate, I made up my mind
to scotch it once for all, which I did in a very simple
way. The anonymous letter blackguard very soon
fell into my hands, so I wrote the following reply
to the Editor of the local paper in answer to this
" courageoits " person :

" SIR,

" If your correspondent is not ashamed of
the name that his mother gave him, and will kindly
subscribe it to his scurrilous effusion, I may think
it worth while to reply."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 155

Of course, having told all his friends to look out
for what " Glover says next week," this local
Jeremiah pest soon ceased ; but the desired effect
did not last for long, for the moment I became
Mayor, my " friend " favoured me with one more
not too complimentary, but a perfectly innocuous
"personality." I have a preference for dressing
myself to suit the climate. Ninety degrees in the
shade rather leans me towards immaculate white
ducks and suchlike tropical attire, and although my
adipose tissue, since remarkably diminished, was
not the kind which lends itself to a favourable
exposition of the very fine delicacies of form, still I
managed, with the help of a good West-end " snip,"
to decorate my mayoral presence in a more or less
becoming manner. This, however, gave very great
umbrage to the anonymous friend, and he celebrated
my mayoralty by emerging from his seclusion once
more, and letting me have another specimen of the
" Polite Letter-writer." Here it is :

" How dare you walk down Devonshire Road "
(BexhilPs leading street) " in white ducks you,
who look more like a pork-butcher than a
musician? "

Now I have many excellent pork -butchers in my
acquaintance, and they, like their chops, are de-
cidedly thin ; therefore I could not quite grasp the
point of this humour.

Another experience was rather of an amusing
nature. It was as follows. The Mayor is ex-officio
a member of all the committees, and these include
the Fire Brigade. A habit had arisen of borrow-
ing the escape for the purpose of doing some five
or six-story house-painting, and it was thought
advisable that it should be understood that the
escape should not be borrowed except with the
permission of the Chairman of the Committee or
the Mayor. What was my astonishment, then, to
get during the dress-rehearsal of the Drury Lane
pantomime, on Christmas Eve, the following
telegram :



i 5 6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

"May we borrow the fire-escape? There is some
trouble at Little Common " (an outlying district)
" and we may want it."

" Holy Moses ! " as Conn the Shaughraun would
say. I jumped out of the orchestra in the middle
of the big scene. Arthur Collins thought I had
gone mad. I rushed up to the telephone, had a
feverish quarter-of-an-hour to get through, and then
only found that the possessor of a very high school
wanted some decorations laid out for some Christ-
mas Day celebration, and as the majority of the
fire brigade were local builders, he had retained
them, and they required the fire-escape to use as a
ladder.

It was during my year of office that the great
" Limerick " craze existed, and perhaps some of the
most humorous incidents arose when I was selected
as a " Limerick " judge for a popular weekly. A
last-liner managed to send in the following, with
knowledge no doubt that the musical aptness would
appeal to me :

" Wagoners, carmen, bend their backs low and
grin." The line was made to read :

" Wagner's ' Carmen ' bend their Bach's ' Lohen-
grin.' " And for this I awarded 20. This brought
me a flood of protesting correspondence ; but per-
haps the most amusing was a gentleman an
important London musician who wrote me and
said :

" May I draw your attention to the fact that
Wagner did not write ' Carmen,' and John Sebastian
Bach, the poor old cantor of Leipsic, was dead
before any of them lived, and did not write
1 Lohengrin ' ? I am stirprised at a man of your
eminence in the musical profession not knowing this
before ? "

It is therefore dangerous to joke or " Limerick."
In the course of this Limerick-judging the
personal took a large place, and from them I find
that I have been a bigamist, an adulterer, a wife-
beater, a polygamist, and every possible unpleasant
thing that one could imagine.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 157

But one I must quote the last from a gentleman
who wrote from the North of England, and said :

" At the meeting of all the important inhabitants-
of this town, convened at the ' Bull and Thrush,' the
following resolution was unanimously passed, and
I was instructed to forward same to you :

" That James M. Glover, Mayor of Bexhill,,
Judge of Limericks, be unanimously elected
to the first vacancy at Colony Hatch."

At the election which qualified me for the possible
mayoralty I had a quaint household experience. I
had an Irish housekeeper, possessed of a humour
entirely her own. I said to her one morning, in
London, " Maloney, let's pack up our things and
go to Bexhill. There's an election on there; I'm
a candidate."

Being Irish she jumped for joy. Any chance
suggestion of a fight appealed to her native humour,
and the word " Election " opened up possibilities.

When we arrived, I pointed out to her that, as
we were only stopping for two days, it was not
necessary to order large supplies of comestibles,
and that economy was the order of the household.
At the time I was retiring Chairman of the General
Purposes Committee, which licensed the local boat-
men and fishermen. I met one of these worthies-
with a huge haul of fish round his neck.

" Good morrow, Bill Ball."

" Good morrow, governor."

" Well, Bill, you seem to have had a good night's-
fishing?"

"Oh yes, sir! but what am I to do with it?
There's nowhere to sell it; it will, go for next to
nothing." There is no market at Bexhill, and the
only two fish emporiums cannot exhaust any great
" catch " that may suddenly arrive.

With that he shouldered two huge plaice, which
crowned the top collection of his haul. So with a
view to help him, I said, " Bill, take these big ones-
round to my house, and tell the housekeeper I said
she was to take them in. She will pay you, and it



i 5 8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

will help you to pay your expenses to go to Hastings
to sell the rest." Bribery was not in my mind, but
sympathy 1 thought was useful at election time at
a small outlay.

I was sitting alone at my lunch table, just
finishing, when the Hibernian Hebe burst into the
dining-room.

" Oi say, sir! "

" Well, what is it? "

" There's a man downstairs who's brought two
huge fish. What the devil are we to do with
them? "

" Oh, it's all right! this is election time."

" Is it? But then who the divil is to eat them?
This is only Wednesday, and I only eat fish on a
Friday, and you, God help you! never touch it."
I am afraid this was a home thrust at my non-
observance of my religious penalties.

" Never mind. It's election time. We do a lot
of things at this period that we don't do any other
time."

"Oh! do we? It's just like you to be com-
plaining about the household expenses being too
big, and here now you want me to buy two fish,
both of them as big as a Dreadnought."

'" Never mind, Maloney ! I have given my orders
this is election time. I repeat, we do a lot of
things during elections that we never think of
doing at any other period."

" So I notice."

With this she turned on her heel and went down-
stairs and held what she would describe as an inde-
pendent " dialogue " to herself on these lines : " It's
election time, is it ? Yes ; we do a lot of things at
election time. Them two's enough fish to feed all the
Catholics in Bexhill for a month of Fridays. But
it's his money ; he can do what he likes with it.
Then he growls that the books are too big. Oh !
I see, it's election time. Let him have his way."
(Of course this was a minor detail, as I intended
liaving my own way.)

I heard a mild discussion going on downstairs
between the fisherman and the housekeeper. I



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 159^

then shouted out that the fisherman could have a
liberal allowance of the wine of Scotland and the-
fizzing water of Schweppes, and I finished my
lunch.

Five minutes aftenvards I heard a noise of some-
one coining upstairs, mumming to herself the same
old refrain

" Well, it's his money. He can do what he likes,
with it." The door burst open suddenly, and before
I could stand up, the two plaice were immediately
sliding across my beautiful damask tablecloth, and
the lady from Ireland stood before ine with her
arms akimbo, bellowing into my ear :

" They're two-and-tuppence, sir, and he is not in
our Ward."

Another quaint experience while I was Mayor of
Bexhill, was when I was asked by the West Country-
Association to respond to a toast on the occasion of
the visit of the Lord Mayor, Sir William Treloar,.
of whom it is said that he " throws oil-cloth on the
troubled waters." My neighbour was Sir William's
popular Sheriff, Sir William Dunn, M.P. After
grace the Sheriff took up my card and read out :
"The Mayor of Bexhill James Glover, Esq., J.P.
Dear, dear! " he continued. " Why, you've got the
same name as that advertising chap at Drury Lane
who is always getting his name in the papers. It's-
perfectly sickening ! Every Sunday morning I take
up my ' Referee ' and see that Jimmy Glover has-
done this that and the other thing." I replied;,
" Yes, it's awful ! " In my speech later in the-
evening I soon convinced Sir William of " my
advertising power."



CHAPTER X

The Collins regime continued A human docu-
ment Jimmy Harrington Dan Leno outwitted The
relief of Ladysrnith as a pantomime ' ; gag " Sir
Herbert Tree and the new Lady Macbeth other
Tree-isms Yon Bulow Cecil Raleigh and his col-
laboration Harry Hamilton England's adversities
and Cecil Raleigh's play Hoaxing Ancona with the
Queen's present How the tenor got ready for Co-
vent Garden in Italy Stories of the late King
Edward Disfiguring the Band-Parts Landon
Ronald's commencement Henry Neville's orchestral
-experience.

THE Collins regime is full and rich with interest-
ing detail, but I am only touching on its fringe.
This year is 1912 Drury Lane now attains its
centenary, because two great conflagrations hap-
pened about that time the burning of Moscow
.and a similar conflagration at Drury Lane, after
which the " Renters " started as lessees. All this
will be dealt with fully in another volume, and so
of this " more anon " as the villain says to the
heroine when he is rejected. But a real human
document is the story of the Drury Lane call-boy
Jimmy Harrington.

A little street-urchin, dribbling at the nose,
collarless, but clean. A hard, intelligent, but
plebeian face, \vith bright blue eyes, one of a gang
of fifty waiting round a frost-bitten stage door for
-work. The boy is engaged, and forms one of an
infantile " British Army " that is engaged to dance
on the corpus "vile of Paul Kruger in " Jack and the
Beanstalk " pantomime 1890-91. The urchin is
trained, for weeks and weeks he goes through the
1 60



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 161

daily pabulum of stage-military exercise. He never
varies. Other boys may play the fool, others may
joke others may neglect their business but he
is always the same, attentive, punctual, obedient.
He never shirks his work, and thus he is selected
for special notice by his superiors.

And yet only a few weeks before that he was
selling newspapers in the street. " Echo, sir,
Speshul," and he drops his bundle and turns a
catherine-wheel for a halfpenny. " Thank-e, sir."
But the stage-door lounger receives recognition and,
one of fifty, he is engaged.

******

It is the night of the Relief of Ladysinith. Two
great comedians one Herbert Campbell, the other
Dan Leno consult in their dressing-rooms as to
the scene in which they should break the news to
the audience. They arrange Scene VII., Part II.,
but in Scene 1., Part I., three hours earlier, a boy
brings on a pie to Dame Trot (Dan Leno), who
according to the plot is running a bakery. The boy
is the same urchin who later on in the evening
becomes a performing diminutive guardsman. He
usually speaks a four-line rhyme such as :

" This pie my mother trusts and hopes

That you will burn it not.
In baking it you won't be long.
I'll bring it" back, Dame Trot."

On this particular night the boy comes on gaily
more joyous than usual. Dances round Dame Trot,
but speaks not his accustomed lines. Stage waits
Leno annoyed. But the boy budges not. At last
the great camedian, somewhat chagrined at this
interruption of his scene, says, " Boy, why so gay
this evening ? "

A pause a huge giggle by the boy, and then this
reply : " Oh, 'aven't you 'erd, I've just relieved
Ladysmith? " Sensation.

I have never heard such an uproar in a theatre
before. It may be remarked that the news of the
Relief of Ladvsmith had arrived after the doors



162 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

were opened, and the audience seated. Of course,
Leno and Campbell were furious, but they bore it
all good-naturedly enough, although considerably
annoyed at being " spoofed."

Two mouths later I sent for this boy. " What are
you, James?" "I'm a Roman Catholic, sir."
"No, I mean how do you live?" "Well, sir,
there's an ole woman very good to me. During
the panto I got nine shillings a week, but that
didn't keep me, so I sez to myself, there is one
hundred children here working all day, they must
have refreshments; so as they don't drink whisky
and beer like the big actors, and must have
some refreshment, I worked the pineapple trick."
" What's that? " I asked, not exactly appreciating
what the " pineapple trick " was. " Well, I buys
a tin of pineapple for a shilling. I cuts it up in
penny and halfpenny slices, and sells it to them.
I'm rather handy with my fists, so I sold them a
penny slice, but for tuppence I agreed to pummel
any other boy they didn't like for them. That
didn't last long, though too many free fights
and I chucked it, so then I started a shoeblack
emporium, and there are about a hundred and
fifty people in the theatre with dirty boots, so I
contracted to do their polishing for tuppence a
week, and that was all right, but another boy
undercut me offered to do it for three-halfpence
so I gave him a jolly good thrashing and chucked
the game.

" Then I wrote an original drama and gave it
twice a day in the ballet room (a large room under-
neath the stage). It was called 'The Soldier Boy's
Return from the War, or Mother's Only Joy '
Front seats twopence, Back seats one penny, Back-
handers for nothing. This lasted for a time, but
when some of my ' audience ' wuz late one night
in the Kruger scene, Mister D'Auban, the stage
manager, kicked up a row, and we had to
disband."

" Well, I am going to try your honesty, James.
Take this ^30 to the bank, and when you come
back I will offer you work." I really had no



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 163

fears of the boy. His straightforwardness im-
pressed me.

The boy came back in ten minutes with the bank
receipt. I then took him to Bexhill, where he
" paged " for me, and sold programmes at the
Kursaal.

One morning he brought me a letter : " Mr.
Henry Arthur Jones requests the pleasure of Mr.
James Harrington"s company at the Albany to
attend the reading of a new play." It appears that
the well-known author had seen him in a special
matinee at Brighton, for which I had lent him to
Charles Frohman.

Shortly he appeared in this play " The Lackey's
Carnival " by the well-known dramatist, H. A.
Jones. The youth made a big success, and I think
got 3, los. a week. I made him bank all his
money. He then (on my suggestion) returned to
Drury Lane as call-boy, and became in due course
Assistant Stage-Manager. He took much of my
advice too literally. But in any leisure moment
he studied French, German and Shorthand, and
on his twenty-first birthday Mr. Collins presented
him with a pocket-book with a " fiver " inside.
Enquiries as to what happened to the " fiver " led
to the discovery that he had paid it in for a series
of Shorthand lessons in Chancery Lane.

He had no parents. I gathered that his religion
was selected at an industrial school he was sent
there as he had been abandoned on a doorstep. He
really had a big future before him. The boy had
great ideas in our business. He read morn and
night, and had made up his mind that he was to
be a much-read man, even if he was not a well-read
boy. To see him pull the strings, ring the bells,
and marshal the huge pantomime about in the
absence of his superiors was marvellous. He had
many a discussion with my cat after she had com-
mandeered the freehold right of half a chicken left
by a dear, kind, thoughtful soul, for his supper.
He was one of the justifiable results of a well-placed
confidence. He had his Drury Lane masters to
thank for a great chance in life, and their confidence



164 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

was never betrayed, and one day he might have
been a big man. Fancy the beginning ! The
collarless, insufficiently-shoed street urchin at the
stage door in a few short years a position which
entitled him to sit in evening-dress at the
" Prodigal Son " Supper, given to his master, with
his right and left associates, Mr. Hall Caine, Mrs.
John Wood and Sir George Alexander.

Alas, one morning I was early awakened by the
telephone bell : " Trunk call, sir it is the Bexhill
Exchange. Drury Lane speaking, you will be sorry
to hear that Jimmy Harrington died in Charing
Cross Hospital this morning Accident." He for
a wager tried to climb up a water-spout in King
Street, St. James' he got to the first floor and fell,
spiked on the railings underneath. Poor chap !
R. I. P.

The boy Harrington was only one of the peculiar
incidents that crop up to one's mind, and the appli-
cations that are received for engagements by the
personnel of the theatre have not always such a
tragic side about them, but often as not carry a good
deal of unlooked-for humour. Every season one had
the pleasure of meeting at Drury Lane all the great
stars assembled to do duty in some charity cause or
other. It is then that our library of jape and quip
gets replenished. The following is one of the more
recent of such episodes : It would not be fair to
mention the lady's name, but I have Sir Herbert's
permission to mention his :

The wife of a leading London manager herself
once a well-known actress decided to return to the
stage, so she thus approached His Majesty's
Manager :

" DEAR Sm HERBERT TREE,

" I intend returning to the stage. Can you
find something for me ? Anything will do from
Lady Macbeth down to the Cloak-room.

" Yours truly,



" late of Theatre "



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 165

The reply :

" DEAR MRS ,

" We have one Lady Macbeth in the theatre
already. She is in the Cloak-room.
" Yours truly,

" HERBERT TREE "

But those of us who remember the recent action
of the matinee hat nuisance and its exploitation as
an advertising coup will better appreciate another
good Tree-ism. When he was upbraided by the
Theatrical Managers' Association for allowing his
wonderful " Henry VIII." production to be cine-
matographed for one thousand pounds be it under-
stood his principal assailant was another old
friend, Frank Curzon, who expatiated at length on
the injury to the legitimate stage that this pio-
ceeding would carry. " Well," said Tree, " I have
liad my cheque, and it has gone through the Bank,
so that settles it. As for Mr. Curzon, he is talking
through his Matinee Hat! "

And one often wonders if the hundred and one
possible Pattis (in their own mind) who crowd the
stage door and ask us to lose our valuable time
listening to their singing out of tune really knew
how bad they really are. It is a very delicate
matter to tell the truth on these occasions, but a
rather good story is told of Von Bulow, who was
once directing an orchestra, when the prima donna
sang seriously out of tttne. In this case it was the
delinquent, and not the director, who stopped the
orchestra, to the surprise of every one, and enquired,
with all the effrontery of unconscious incompetence,
if the " band was in tune." " I don't know,"
quickly replied Von Bulow, and to the false-toned
vocalist, " Give us your A." To the uninitiated the
pitch of the orchestra is generally taken from the
" A," sounded by some staple instrument, usually
the oboe.

The humours of rehearsing our various plays are
all of a very light-hearted nature, and in my many



166 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

years I have seldom heard a regretted word or
unnecessary incident which one can recall of any
serious nature. Tempers will rise, passions will
storm, and small vanities will exist, but that is all ;
but a little turn, a gentle word, or a passing quip,
does wonders. For instance :

Cecil Raleigh, in collaborating with an author
whose wife was playing the leading part, found the
following situation easily solvable. Dialogue :

HUSBAND-AUTHOR : I say, Raleigh, my wife wants
a strong situation written in here. Her part falls
lo nothing in this scene. Strengthen the end of
the act.

RALEIGH : Not in your sweet life, dear boy. Scene
quite long enough.

H.-A. But I protest.

RALEIGH : So you can, till the cows come home.

H.-A. : Nonsense, my dear Raleigh ; besides, I
am part author of this play, and as such I assert
my right. In fact, I insist. I shall now go home,
and as part author write in that scene which I think
essential to the play's success. That's the value of
collaboration.

RALEIGH : Right-o ! You go home and write the
scene and bring it back to me, and I'll cut it out.
That's the advantage of collaboration!

And then again :

A young actor at Drury Lane was standing over
a trap at rehearsal. " My ambition," he remarked
to Harry Hamilton, the author, "is to come up
that trap." " You never will," was the quick re-
joinder, " it's a Star trap." For the uninitiated a
" Star trap " is an aperture in the stage, cut out in
the shape of a star, through which demon-acrobats
and other pantomimic wild fowl arise in weird
moments.

Then again, when Augustus Daly died he pos-
sessed the American rights of the Drury Lane
drama, "The Great Ruby." His executors were
Ada Rehan and Sir Eric Barrington (then Lord
Salisbury's private secretary). To Downing Street
repaired Arthur Collins in Drury Lane interests,
and Cecil Raleigh in the author's, to settle the terms



JIMMY GLOVKR HIS BOOK 167

of the American tour. This was soon done. " That's
all, then ; I am very glad this little matter is settled
it's not quite in my line," said the secretary to the
Prime Minister of England. " Yes," said Raleigh,
" all we have to do now is to embody it in a couple
of little formal agreements, go to our solicitors,
have them engrossed, exchange copies, get them
stamped, and there you are! " " Certainly, if you
wish it," was the diplomatist's reply, " but you
don't doubt my word ? " " Not at all," said Raleigh,
" but with Kruger and South Africa in one hand
just now, and Marchand and Fashoda in the other,
I think you're pretty full up ; and I can't expect you
to worry much over five per cent, on a few hundred
dollars some nights' takings with ' The Great
Ruby ' in a one-night stand, played by a second-
rate company, on a third-rate American tour.' ;

The late Queen Victoria, ten days after every
" Command " at Windsor, used to send a diamond
pin or other ornament to the principal artistes
engaged. Ancona, the baritone, was seriously
agitated on one of these occasions, that after a
certain effluxion of time his particular present had
not arrived. " La Reine m'a oublit Rien pour mot
c'est extraordinaire," till we all got so tired that
we determined to teach him a lesson, so one morning
the following happening took place.

SCENE Dress rehearsal of a new work at Covent
Garden " La Navarraise." Stalls full of singers,
pressmen, and others ; Ancona in the middle.
Suddenly during an entr'acte a full-dressed Hussar
one of the ordinary messengers of Royalty arrives,
walks into the middle of the stalls, crying out loud,
"Signer Hancona ! " Sudden astonishment and
joy of Ancona as he is handed a large box tied with
red ribbon, to which is hanging the real official
Windsor seal. Loud cries from surrounding
watchers of " What is it? " " Do let us see," " How
charming of the Queen ! " During all this time the
proud baritone was fumbling in his pocket for a
coin with which he might reward the Royal mes-
senger. Ancona anxiously tears off the string, and
finds a dozen coverings of paper on the principle of



i6S JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

the old conjurer's box trick, and finally reaching
the supposed jewel draws out a paste-glass chande-
lier drop, tied with two pieces of red ribbon,
which some of us had prepared for him that
morning !

It must be explained that whenever a " Com-
mand " performance was given at Windsor, we all,
in our various departments, were supplied with
cards of invitation, to which were attached the huge
Windsor official seal. We had cut off one of these
seals, and thus " fabricated " a genuine appearance
to an otherwise harmless " spoof."

It was geuerall}' understood that in order
" debut er a Covent Garden " an appearance in Italy
was necessary, and so, to ingratiate himself with
" Druriolauus," a certain tenor with private funds
repaired to one of those many Italian towns which
boasts periodical seasons of opera to qualify for his
London d6but. For the deposited sum of 20,000
francs in advance, a thieving impresario consented
to run a short season of one month's repertoire of
Italian opera, in which the tenor was to be " top
dog," and make a necessary number of appearances
in his favourite roles. The theatre was taken, cast,
band, chorus engaged, and our tenor in due course
made his dtbut, which could not be considered as
favourable. Never was heard such a pandemonium
in an opera-house for years. To run a month on
these lines meant ruin to the impresario, and as the
Italian conspirators had determined not to return
a single franc of the deposit something had to be
done to save the situation and the remaining portion
of the 20,000 francs. The next evening arrived, and
our tenor, thoroughly unconscious of the failure he
really had made, emerged from his hotel theatre-
wards to dress for Edgardo in " Lucia " the second
night's opera.

Now it so happened that two drunken sailors were
passing as he left his hotel. He found himself
jostled into the roadway, an altercation ensued, and
much " Corpo-di-Bacco-ing," and many Italian
expletives followed a scuffle a whistle and the
unfortunate ( ?) arrival of two Carabineri when the



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 169

luckless tenor was taken to the police-station and
charged with assaulting (sic) two sailors. Protests
were useless, messengers could not be found to
acquaint the theatre, hotel, or friends for bail, till
midnight, when the jailers relented, and released
the Covent Garden aspirant, who awoke the next
morning to find the theatre closed, a writ issued
against him for another 25,000 francs damages, and
an intimation from the impresario that he had
broken his contract, and ruined the season, which
had to be abandoned.

It need hardly be said that the whole thing was
a carefully devised " plant " to squeeze the poor
operatic aspirant of his extra wealth.

I merely tell the story to accentuate my friend's
story in another chapter on the way that these
things are managed in Italy.

At Covent Garden we had many evidences of the
memory of the late King Edward. Both he and
Queen Alexandra were very fond of Luigi Man-
cinelli one of the best conductors who ever wielded
a baton and the Queen herself once privately pre-
sented the maestro with a small stick with which
he used to occasionally conduct.

Another instance of the King's memory is a little
musical incident which happened one Sunday night,
when he was staying at Lady William Beresford's.
There was a small band engaged, with which I was
professionally connected, consisting of a piano and
six instrumentalists, and in one of the intervals the
then Prince of Wales led a lady to the accompanist,
addressing that gentleman in these words : " This
lady is going to sing us something, but she has no
music, so what can you play from memory? " The
Prince was informed that, no doubt, whatever the
lady might decide to sing, the pianist and orchestra
would be only too pleased to " vamp " i.e.
improvise. (This was not the word used, although
it was the procedure intended.) His Royal
Highness then replied, " Do you know ' Honey,
Oh, my Honey,' and if you can play it, can the
violins join in pizzicato? " This was the one-time
popular song from " Little Christopher Columbus,""



170 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

sung by May Yohe, the first Lady Francis Hope.
The orchestra complied, and H.R.H. was greatly
interested in the process of " vamping." He con-
gratulated the musicians, and wound up by saying,
" Now let us have ' Lazily, drowsily,' and Braga's
* Serenata.' " So it will be seen that even after this
long lapse of time the Prince remembered that
<( Honey, Oh, my Honey," was played at the Lyric
Theatre with a pizzicato accompaniment.

But the late King Edward had always a musical
ear, and he also kept a sharp look-out on many
things at Covent Garden which any one of his
subjects would never dream of his having any
interest in.

The question of conductorship at Covent Garden
often caused serious trouble. Bevignani was getting
old, and one night the then Prince asked Harris,
" How long is this going on ? " indicating Bevignani
so much so that poor Bevignani had to be asked to
retire from " Faust " and other works in his reper-
toire, and the more modern Mancinelli installed.
But the Royal occupant of the omnibus box
interested himself in many a small detail. Man-
cinelli one night forgot his white kid gloves, and
the Royal remark was : " Harris, is the opera going
to the dogs ? " Another occasion the entire orchestra
In respect to their leader, who had a great domestic
bereavement, wore black ties. This brought a
remonstrance from high quarters in no uncertain
form, and not a black tie was seen for the rest of
the season save the leader's he refusing to doff
"his mourning, even for Royalty. I gathered after-
wards that the kindly-natured Prince sent round a
sympathetic message explaining his ignorance of
the real reason for the departure from the usual
routine.

Again, one night, we did " Fra Diavolo." The
second tenor was Joseph O'Mara. " Where," said
His Royal Highness, " did he come from ? " " Oh,"
said Sir Augustus "one of the new blood! "
" There," concluded the future King of England,
turning to Mr. Christopher Sykes, " is a chance for
yon." And turning to Sir Augustus Harris, "My



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 171

friend Sykes has a latent talent in this direction.
Can you give him a chance? "

The late King, too, was so fond of Wagner that
it was found necessary to do " small " Wagner
arrangements for the various petits orchestres which
occasionally visited him at Windsor, Buckingham
Palace, or Sandringham. These were generally
arranged by Adolf Schmid, Sir Herbert*' Tree's
clever director of music, who was sent to the Hay-
market by me as musical director at a time when
he was my cello at Drury Lane. His knowledge of
orchestration is larger than most musical directors
in London, and his name as arranger appears on
many of Sir Edward Elgar's works. I have always
regretted his loss to me, but Sir Herbert has never
ceased thanking me.

One of the principal troubles we encountered at
Covent Garden was the carving and cutting about
of the various band parts to suit the catarrh-izing
exigencies of the various artistes. In early days
" Carmen " suffered a good deal in this way, as
the role lends itself to optional acceptance to mezzos
with high registers and soprani with low registers,
and in some cases to so-called singers with neither
facility. When it first came to this country there
was a doubt about its copyright, and five distinct
versions were being done; (i) Mapleson's, (2) Gye's,
(3) Selina Doloro's, (4) " Cruel Carmen " (Miss
Alice Aynsley Cook), (5) Emily Soldene. Soldene
was in Glasgow doing two performances a day to
packed business. The musicians being paid 35?. a
week, i.e. 55. lod. a night, and half salaries
(25. i id.) for matinees. They struck for " opera "
terms, asserting that " Carmen " was " comic
opera." When Soldene went on to the next town
she found this couplet in the flute part. Writing
things in the band parts is a favourite amusement
of provincial musicians



" Soldene's collaring all the chips,
Poor Bizet's gone to Heaven,
Here am I playing the principal flute
For a paltry two-and-eleven."



172 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

This story is not quite correctly told in Emily
Soldene's book, but 'twill serve.

This touring round the country for musical folk
is to music what the old stock system was to the
drama. There is hardly one of the leading London
conductors of any eminence who has not at one
time or another been through the mill in this
fashion. Sir Henry J. Wood, Thomas Beecham, and
Landon Ronald are three excellent specimens.

Landon Ronald, who had previously toured with
" L'Enfant Prodigue," had been engaged by Harris
as " maestro al piano " for his Italian tour at 6
a week, and on his return to London, Sepilli, the
Italian maestro, with whom I was working for
Harris, asked me to "fill him in" as organist for
"the " Faust " and " Cavalleria " nights at a guinea
a night. This I did, and I guaranteed Ronald for
Sir Augustus Harris three nights, i.e. three
guineas a week. This opera season was such a
success that the season afterwards we had two con-
ductors, Luigi Mancinelli and Glover the former
for the big operas and the latter for the smaller
things. To me fell the lot of " Bohemian Girls,"
"Maritanas," and the lighter works. Mancinelli
did not want to conduct two nights running, so, as
he had opened on Easter Saturday, and I had billed
him with " Cavalleria " and " Pagliacci " on the
Monday, he begged me to conduct " Cavalleria "
and " laissez Landon diriger ' Pagliacci.' " Sir
Augustus Harris willing, I so altered the bills.
This was Ronald's first appearance as a conductor
in London opera. Personally, I announced myself
to conduct " Carmen " at the Crystal Palace on the
following Thursday, but as the management of the
season was taking up all my time, I asked Ronald
if he would like to do " Carmen." There were
several reasons for this. I had had a wider ex-
perience of the Crystal Palace band. Away from
August Manns, when they played in the theatre
for the travelling conductor a more competent
impertinent sulky lazy always late at rehearsal
division, I never knew. And I did not see why I
should lose my time and my temper with them.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 173

Ronald would not be allowed to conduct at Drury
Lane without a rehearsal. At the Palace they had
to give him one, and so I let him have it. To this
he consented, brought down his dear old father
the octogenarian, Henry Russell (never-to-be-forgot-
ten author of " Cheer-boy s-Cheer," " A Life on the
Ocean Wave," etc.), to see him, and the old man
was so thankful for this lift-up to his son, that he
stood me tea, kissed me, and promised me a grand
piano on my wedding. Afterwards, Ronald got
" Faust " into his repertoire, and this was his com-
mencement as a splendid conductor, modestly but
seriously begun.

But, after all, Ronald found the orchestra much
more useful than Henry Neville, that once popular
leading man, who, it is not generally known, played
the violin in Covent Garden Orchestra.

Neville's brother, at the time acting in a
provincial touring company, wrote to him

" DEAR HARRY,

" Don't play the fiddle any longer for 355.
a week, or you will live and die and end at 355.
Come on tour and act. The worst kind of actor can
commence at 4."



CHAPTER XI

Comic Opera " Chilperic " again Arthur Sullivan
The prejudices exhibited towards light music in
academic institutions " The Lost Chord " as a horn-
pipe Farnie's great genius French operas and
their mode of transplanting Musical comedy " La
Poupee " Songs, ancient and modern "Killartiey"
Edmund Falconer " Spring, Gentle Spring "
Boucicault and " Babil and Bijou " and " The Shau-
ghraun " "Dorothy" and "Queen of my Heart"
" Tommy Atkins " " Soldiers of the Queen " " The
Absent-minded Beggar " How Sullivan wrote it
who " scored " it " Two Lovely Black Eyes " " 1 he
Man who Broke the Bank" "Beer, Glorious Beer"-
The Trocadero in the days of music-hall " Lions "
before mutton-chop " Lyons " Paulus' season the
"free-list" Banking the cheques The wrong india-
rubber stamp.

THERE are few arts which have passed through
so many changes as the cult of Comic Opera.
Slow in being accepted seriously when it was first
introduced into this country, in its French form, I
mean, by the Brothers Mansel at the Lyceum
(" Chilperic " in 1871), it had a certain vogue due
to Alexander Henderson and his adapting hench-
man, H. B. Farnie. But indifference soon told his
tale.

Herve really invented comic opera, and had a
short rivalry with Offenbach only a short one as
Offenbach completely wiped out the ex-tenor com-
poser who was always a little mad, dying shortly
after an attack upon reading a captious criticism
of one of his works by Henri Fouquier in " Le
Figaro." Perhaps Herve never really survived his
association as " maitre de Musique " with some
174



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 175

poor " dementis " in a French asylum at Bicetre,
for whom he used to organize and conduct con-
certs and musical entertainments. Nevertheless,
Augustus Harris brought him to The Empire to
write many beautiful ballets even as the Gattis
at an earlier period, as I have recorded engaged
him to direct promenade concerts at Co vent Garden.

But Offenbach spluttered out, and interest in
foreign work waned except for an occasional
Lecocq success like " Pepita," or Audran's triumphs
"La Mascotte " and "La Poupee." From this
period onwards perhaps it was the death of
Alexander Henderson, Farnie and Reece nothing
was done to keep the light school alive, and when
one reflects that it took twenty-three years for
Offenbach's " Contes d 'Hoffman " to cross the
Straits of Dover, it will be quite evident that some-
thing was radically wrong. Since the death of
Arthur Sullivan, not one of our young composers
had ever been taught to write a really dramatic
number. The higher-toned English musicians who
were prepared to sneer at Sullivan's class of work
are never inclined, in their various academic
capacities, to teach the young idea how to shoot inio
lighter vein, assuming for purposes of argument
that the raw material existed.

The only man that made any headway in the
Sullivan method, but whose early demise precluded
him doing anything very serious, was Edward
Solomon, who wrote about twenty operas in the
genuine comic opera style, most of which attained
a fair, if not lasting, success. But Solomon was of
the theatre theatrical.

Solomon had humour. His hornpipe to a counter-
melody of " The Lost Chord " brought a friendly
protest from Arthur Sullivan :

" DEAR TEDDY,

" I wrote ' The Lost Chord ' in sorrow at
my brother Fred's death " (Fred Sullivm was a
comedian and the original Judge in ' Trial by Jury ')
don't burlesque it."



i 7 6 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Thus wrote Sullivan, the morning after it was
played in the Guards' burlesque.

His orchestration was punctually topical in
fact, it may be taken as " aggravated " Sullivan.
Sullivan's musical parodies and topical suggestions
were all lightly done such as the old " Lancers "
reference in " The Mikado's " song. Solomon's was
broader but less rnusicianly fun. In a farce which
contained a domestic cooking scene somebody
dropped a red herring this succulent morsel being
vulgarly known in slang as "a red soldier."
Vocally treated Teddy punctuated it with a musical
reference in two bars of " Let me like a soldier fall."
To the musician this was apparent; to the non-
musician it was so much musical Greek. But for
all that he was a little genius, we miss him
greatly, and his death made a great musical void.

Of course, when musical comedy came in, it
immediately filled up the gap, and though it flooded
the stage with a large number of useless character
studies, it supplied the orchestra with a large
number of rule-of-thumb musicians, who hammered
out " something resembling a tune " to the first
music hack encountered. When the chorus lady who
sang one song became a prima donna, when every
chorus man in modern evening-dress became a Sims
Reeves, any chance there was for writing for the
musical stage from a comic opera or dramatic stand-
point, faded away. Who is there now who could
write a Savoy finale to an Act I. lasting twenty-five
minutes and not bore the public ? Nobody. The
thread of music drama in the old days stretched
from Act I. to Act III. Now, it is a common thing
to cut out either act after the first night, and nobody
suffers. " Now we've got good notices from the
critics," said Seymour Hicks the morning after one
of his first nights, " let's call a rehearsal and cut
out the plot." It is recorded of my old friend,
George Edwardes, that he telegraphed to a well-
known author : " Come at once great idea to alter
your play." The author came, and George beamed
on him, " We're going to play the second act first."

H. B. Farnie on the other hand, the much-despised



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 177

Scotch journalist from Cupar Fife, had his school
of composers and executants to write round,
assisted by collaborateur Robert Reece, and, granted
the drama, who were these puppets ? Pattie
Laverne, who married a carriage builder in Long;
Acre, vSelina Delaro, Emily Soldene, who married a
Mr. Powell, Pauline Rita (wife of one of our most
eminent flautists), Florence St. John, Violet
Cameron, who became Mrs. de Bensuade or
" Brandy and Soda " as we called him for short
Tilly Wadtnan, who married Wiggy Jervis,
Angelina Claude, and a host of others ; and when
we come to the male department Henry Bracy,
Henry Ashley, Harry Cox, W. S. Rising, not to
mention Charles Manners, just retired having made
his " pile " out of " unprofitable " English opera,
W. H. Hamilton, and scores of others. These were
the people who could always be well-fitted, and
could always give a good account of themselves.

Farnie, who always kept one eye on Paris and
one on London, had a wonderful knack of turning-
a Parisian failure into a London success. I shall
never forget the annoyed look on the author,
Albert Vanloo's face on the night of the " repetition
generate " of " Les Droits d'Ainesse," when the late
Alfred Hays, the Library Agent of New Bond
Street, walked out at the end of the first act in
Paris, called for "a bottle of bubbly " Pelican-ese
for champagne remarking that he did not want
to hear any more, and handed them one thousand
pounds on deposit for the English rights across
the table in the little restaurant near the Bouffes
Parisiennes in the Passage Choiseul.

The French version was a poor success in Paris,
and as it turned out, it was a good thing that Alfred
Hays did not go back. He might have stopped the
cheque. Farnie had his eyes open all the time, saw
where the weak points existed, and when it was
produced at the Comedy Theatre as " Falka," it
made one of the greatest successes of the season.
One could see the master hand had been at work.
Afterwards it was sent on tour by Alexander
Henderson, but he tired of his country speculations



178 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

always too soon, and his own musical director, Van
Biene, and an actor named Horace Lingard, ran
down to Northampton and bought him out for a
specific sum, making their fortunes thereby.

Even the adaptation of the " Mascotte," from the
point of view of those who saw the French version,
was a tour de force. Farnie was to the musical play
what Dion Boucicault was to the average drama,
but we have no Farnie now to go to Paris, and pick
tip the plays and so arrange them for English taste
without completely destroying the original idea.
*' Veronique " and " The Michus " and " The
Merry Widow," have, in some sense, made a
crescendo of artistic demand in light opera, but
they stand alone.

" Veronique " was hawked about in this country
lor two years. I had an option for T. H. French
in New York on its English rights for 48 hours,
which I did not exercise through a blunder in a
telegram office and wrong delivery of a message of
acceptance. For six months it lay in the hands of
an English Duke, as representing a syndicate.
Then, to flatter Andre Messager, its composer, who
married " Hope Temple " (Dolly Davis, sister of
Mrs. Sam Lewis), it was done at the Coronet
Theatre, Notting Hill, by a French troupe under
the auspices of the Covent Garden regime, when it
drew all London to hear it in a language that half
London did not understand, which led to its being
produced in English. " Les Petits Michus " was
for four years in the portfolio of Arthur Collins, and
two years in the possession of another manager,
Tbefore any one would look at it.

Comic opera, however, is not dead only every-
"bodv at one time went about saying so, and nobody
produced it. Now the revival has come thank
goodness. But the students in our schools are not
taught pratique, or utility; so they go on with
their " Variation in F. Minor," their " fugues inter-
woven with Bach and Beethoven" and cui bonof
It is much the fault of the " additional number "
craze eight bars of a double-forte symphony cut
off with a pair of scissors ; " sixteen bars and



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 179

refrain, twice through, up stage, and back for
encore " which often as not does not coine and the
audience which went mad over " The Torpedo and
the Whale," or " The Legend of the Crosse-Caisse,'*
now rolls in its own plushed stall to :

" Mary Jane of Tooting
Was a proper sort of girl
When her sweetheart from his office
got the ' push.'

" But Mary knew a thing or two,
And bolted with an Earl,
So they're living now in naughty

Shepherd's Bush."

When the 5ooth night of "La Poupee " arrived,
Audran came over to be present, and was doubtless
glad that neither he nor his collaborateur, Ordon-
neau, had allowed one single number to be
introduced other than their own writing. How
different when the " Pinafore " craze was on in
America, and one singer sang of " Josephine " as
" My Sweetheart when a Boy."

The story of the success of " H.M.S. Pinafore "
does not seem to have been accurately told. It is
well known that the First Lord who stuck " close
to his desk and never went to sea ... to be ruler
of the Queen's Navee " was a sly shaft at the then
First Lord of the Admirality the late W. H. Smith.
But " Pinafore " fell flat at first, and in the action
which arose over the Opera Comique lease and
the fight which ensued a real scrimmage, when
Rutland Barrington tells me his very Captain
Corcoran clothes were torn to shreds it came out
that the second night's receipts were a matter of
only ^14 odd.

The row occurred in this way. D'Oyly Carte was
manager of the Comedy Opera Company, Ltd., and
Lord Kilmorey, the owner of the Opera Comique,
would only give a limited lease to the Company,
preferring to have a personal tenant in Mr. Carte
himself and on this basis all the contracts were
made to finish on a certain date, June 3Oth, and on



iSo JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

July ist, when the " Company " canie to enter their
own theatre as they thought, the row began, and
as Mr. Carte had three years' personal agreements
with all the artistes, and Gilbert and Sullivan the
authors with him, he carried the day. For some
time, in consequence of this trouble, the copyright
of " Pinafore " was questioned, everybody concerned
holding that the registered rights were their own
specific vested interest, with the result that more
or less concurrent with the Opera Comique run
performances by rival combinations at the now
defunct Royal Aquarium and Olympic Theatres also
took place. D'Oyly Carte, however, having the
authors, the operas and the artistes with him, the
rest is history only too well known the Savoy was
built out of the profits made at the Opera Comique,
and all went happy as a marriage bell till the
famous " carpet " split, which was not accurately
related in the obituaries of the late Sir William
Gilbert.

The story current at the time was that the Savoy
Theatre was owned by two separate entities.
Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte a tria jimcta in uno,
as ground landlords, and D'Oyly Carte per se as a
tenant of the trio. It is stated that a carpet bought
for the lessee per se was charged to the tria-juncta-
uno account perfectly justifiably, and Gilbert
objected. Sullivan agreed that Carte was right,
and so came the little rift in the managerial lute.
There was also said to be some dissatisfaction on
the part of Gilbert over his investment in the Savoy
Hotel, but that was evidently only a side issue

Mr. Fletcher, of Saltoun, knew a wise man who
cared little " who should make the laws of a nation "
so long as he was " permitted to make all the
ballads," a more or less excellent sentiment which
if practised in these times might do a good deal
towards leading certain popular and patriotic ideals
to their honourable end. We all know to mention
only a few, the revolutionary advantages of " Ca
Ira " " The Marseillaise " Mehul's " Chant du
Depart " stolen by Braham for " The Death of
Nelson " (let me here parenthetically remark that



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 181

in Paris the great success of Offenbach's " La Fille
du Tambour Major " was Mehul's " Chant du
Depart," but when it was done at the Alhambra in
London this climax was a great failure, as the
British public recognized the tune as " The Death
of Nelson").

There are in modern records many inaccuracies
to be dealt with.

First, in Mr. Harold Simpson's " A Century of
English Ballads," it is stated that Balfe wrote
" Killarney " for Dion Boucicault. This is quite
an error. I have it on the authority of Mrs.
Edmund Falconer, whose husband was the original
Danny Mann in " The Colleen Bawn," that Balfe
wrote " Killarney " for her husband for introduction
into one of his Irish dramas (I think " Peep o'
Bay"), and that Falconer gave Balfe almost his
last hundred pounds for so doing. " We could ill
afford the money," said Mrs Falconer. " It was all
our savings at the time, but Edmund would part
with it." And to this Edmund nodded. This took
place in 1876, when the Falconers stopped with nay
family in Dublin the time the dramatist was doing
a libretto to Goldsmith's " Deserted Village " for
my grandfather. Edmund Falconer was manager
of Drury Lane in 1866.

Another error in the same book is about " Spring,
Spring, Gentle Spring." It is here stated that
Riviere hawked it about, and it was refused by
every London publisher. Nothing of the sort !
Riviere himself was in partnership with the elder
Oliver Hawkes, in the music-publishing trade in
Leicester Square, to which house he had just then
removed from Soho Square. Hawkes was a horn
player in Queen Victoria's Private Band, and the
firm of Riviere and Hawkes actually printed the
waltz before it was sung, and I am told it was
actually rehearsed from the proof sheets, although
Riviere nearly sold it afterwards to Mr. Hop wood.
It made an enormous success. Except " Silver
Threads among the Gold " I do not know of any
piece of music in those days which obtained so
great a vogue. It was published in three different



182



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK



keys, as a fantasia, a waltz, a song, a quadrille, a
polka, with three different band arrangements of
string, brass, fife and drum, as an " Air varie "
for a great flute-soloist, and many other versions.
Hopwood, of Hopwood & Crew, offered ^20 for it,
but Riviere and Hawkes stuck to it, and the com-
poser netted 2000 for his share of the royalties.

A similar success also let it be marked again in
Covent Garden was A. Gwyllym Crowe's " See-
Saw." This was written on what some of the older
musicians call the " catchy fourth," i.e. the first
interval of the melody descends a fourth and there
are thousands of examples of this melodic mechaa-
ism. I will to prove my case quote only three of
the more popular \vhich will arise in th? public
i.iind Crowe's ualtz, the Cell song frcni " Les
Cloches de Corneville," and the Soldiers' Chorus
from Gounod's " Faust."

i. The See-vSaw waltz.



Tenijx> di Valte.




2. The Bell song, " Cloches de Corneville."
Moderate.












3. Gounod's " Faust," Soldiers' Chorus.
Tempo di Marcia.




To simplify matters, I have written all these in
the same key, but it will be found that they each of
them lead off with an interval of a fourth C to G



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 183

descending. It has no musical significance, and is
merely a trick of the trade curious to note.

" Spring " was Riviere's only great success as a
composer, although as an arranger he did a lot of
good work, but he was in his zenith at this time,
and as a French poet had it :

" L'eau va toujours a la Riviere.
C'est un fait dument constate
C'est un dicton tres populaire
D'incontestable verite."

" Babil and Bijou," in which " Spring, Gentle
Spring " was introduced, was Boucicault's biggest
artistic failure, and the late Earl Londesborough's
greatest financial loss.

Speaking of Boucicault, he loomed large about
this period. His " Shaughraun " was packing
Drury Lane, and he appealed to Mr. Disraeli to
liberate the Irish political prisoners as a concession
to the great English sympathy shown to the Drury
Lane play. At this time there were many Irish
" treason " prisoners in Australian jails, and Bouci-
cault wanted to credit the Drury Lane cheers to a
demand for " Amnesty " which was well agitating
the public mind at the time, but Disraeli accused
him of " playing to the gallery to advertise his forth-
coming tour," and refused when questioned in the
House of Commons to interfere.

This the dramatist scornfully repudiated, and
to prove his sincerity, Dion Boucicault threw up
fcis personal interest a matter of hundreds of
thousands of pounds and allowed the part of
" Conn " in the " Shaughraun " to be played by
anybody. One of the originals was an actor named
Hubert O'Grady, to whom Boucicault on the first
night of the production of the " Shaughraun " at
the Gaiety, Dublin, wired from America :

" For heaven's sake cut down the Wake scene, or
all's up."

" Conn, the Shraughraun," in this production
was afterwards played by a great comedian named
Charlie Sullivan.

On his deathbed in Liverpool, Charlie Siillivan,



184 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

whom I knew very well, was in the last throes of
pneumonia. " Good night, Charlie," said the
Doctor, grasping his hand, " I'll see you in the
morning." " I know you will," said Charlie,
"but the question is will I see you?" He died
two hours later.

E. T. Smith once offered Boucicault Drury Lane
Theatre. " Six thousand pounds, old man ; you walk
in, 1 walk out " said E. T. Smith over a dinner
conversation.

" vSix thousand pounds you give me you stop in
I keep out."

But to resume about songs. " Tommy Atkins,"
one of the few rousing ditties which will last, and
possesses something more than a mere ephemeral
topicality, came to the front in a weird fashion.
Harry Hamilton had been commissioned to write
six songs for a play called " Captain Fritz," for a
Mr. Charles Arnold the original Tony in " My
Sweetheart " the play (not Hamilton's) was a
failure, but George Edwardes heard the song in
the country production and noted its great possi-
bilities, and Arnold for a consideration willingly
dispossessed himself of the London rights in Mr.
Edwardes' favour. It was as rousing a redcoat
lyric as ever was written, and when it was intro-
duced on the first night of " The Gaiety Girl " into
that play, it created a sensation at the Prince of
Wales'. The music was written by an old friend
of mine, Satn Potter, the musical director of the
now defunct Sam Hague's Minstrels at Liverpool.
Sam Hague was a kind of provincial Moore and
Burgess. Mr. Wilcocks, the publisher of " Tommy
Atkins," when he discovered what an Eldorado he
possessed, tried to " corner " the burnt-cork chef's
future output, and it is said received this laconic
reply :

" DEAR SIR,

" I am in receipt of your kind favour. I
have lots of better songs than ' Tommy Atkins,'
five shillings each. I never charge less.
" Yours truly,

" SAM POTTER."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 185

Leslie Stuart (or Barrett, as his real name is)
could tell some funny experiences of resuscitated
songs. In 1881, he wrote one for an Exhibition
of the Manchester Ship Canal at Blackpool. No-
body in their wildest enthusiasm could call the
Exhibition or the song successes, but many years
later I heard Hayden Coffin sing in "An Artist's
Model " at Daly's, a sarcastic ditty about " The
Soldiers of the Queen, who loved to stop at home
and let the others go out to fight," to the same
melody. This unpatriotic idea was not a success,
and in that form the song had a short life.
But not so for Leslie ! He never let a good tune
drop. Up it bobbed serenely as the real " Soldiers
of the Queen " during the African war recruiting
period and took England by storm.

I know of so many instances where judgment
has erred as to songs, that only one or two will
suffice. The sensational success of an evening of
successes in " Florodora " was " Tell me, pretty
maiden." It is generally said that its excision
was nearly insisted upon at rehearsal, but a more
flagrant instance was Shiel Barry's nearly carrying
his point to have the miser scene eliminated from
the "Cloches de Corneville."

I took Fragson, the popular French Chanteur, to
Willie Boosey to sell six songs Boosey bought
five, but absolutely refused to touch " Whispers of
Love." As we went out of the door I said, " Come,
Fragson, we'll try Ascherberg (another publisher)
with it." "Well," said Boosey, "throw it in with
the rest, but I don't want it." It made the more
sensational success of the pantomime and the
season; the other five well, nobody ever heard of
them.

It was absolutely impossible to get poor dear
lazy Arthur Sullivan to do " The Absent-Minded
Beggar." The then plain Alfred Hartnsworth
raved, Kennedy Jones telephoned, the entire staff
of the " Daily Mail " lived on the composer's door-
step in Victoria Street; but to no purpose, and the
song was announced to be sung at the Alhambra
on a fast-approaching Monday evening. So,



186 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Kennedy Jones got on the 'phone to Sullivan's
secretary, Wilfred Bendall, and asked him to do
" something like ' Tommy Atkins ' " the opening
strains of which Kennedy hummed on the 'phone,
and in a few hours down to George Byng's music
room in the Alhambra the MS. of the piano and
voice part was triumphantly carted. Byng sat up
late, scored it, and the eulogisms of the Press the
next morning spoke highly of " the well-known
rnusicianly orchestration of Sir Arthur Sullivan."
" In his best Savoy style." " Sullivanesque " to a
degree.

Many years ago I travelled with an " Adamless
Eden " Company of ladies only. In our repertoire
we had a sentimental song called " My Nellie's Blue
Eyes." A parodied version of the song found its
way into the hands of Mr. Charles Coborn, who
with " Two Lovely Black Eyes," drew all London to
the Trocadero. But Coborn, who prided himself on
his French, and Lord " Ned " de Clifford Pelicans
both made a serious slip when they worked out a
French version of the chorus in the old Pelicon
Club. Coborn was a very good French scholar but
they could only get at :

" Deux beaux yeux noirs,
Moi, del quel horreur " etc.

which, as Euclid says, is absurd, for " noir " is
black in the sense of colour if black can be a
colour. " Pochl a I' ce.il " is to blacken the optic
by force; and the line should have read :

" Deux beaux yeux poches !

But Coborn stuck to his guns. Besides, it was a
beautiful Cockney rhyme to "horreur"! but it
occasioned a rather pleasant Royal incident which
is interesting. One evening I met the late Duke of
Clarence at a smoking concert given at the excel-
lently managed Beaufort Club the latter fact not
surprising when such a fine old gentleman and man



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 187

of the world as the late Duke of Beaufort was head
of affairs. At these particular soirees, the Duke
was round and about, and if not doing, at any rate
was always seeing things properly done. It was
intimated that Prince Albert Victor had graciously
consented to look in at the Beaufort smoking
concert on the particular night of the visit, when
the Duke was in the chair, and the fact was kept
very dark. The result was the Royal visitor came,
and apparently spent a very pleasant night, and
made everybody exceedingly comfortable. Every-
body was delighted to see His Royal Highness
with so many of his father's good qualities and
genial tastes, and he certainly showed none of the
shyness which he had by common gossip been
charged with.

He sat and applauded, an,d evidently appreciated
what is called " good music," and was the first to
laugh at a good joke, and a funny song, when it
came along. We were all more or less young men
then, and he felt at home and made us feel so too.
During a portion of the evening I sat within two
rows of the chair, and it did my heart good to see
him join with us in raising the roof by shouting
the chorus of this almost " National Anthem,"
" Two Lovely Black Eyes." When, however, the
comic singer sang what he called the already men-
tioned French version, " Deux beaux yeux noirs "
which, as I said, is not French at all I saw
H.R.H.'s brows knit, as his sensitive ear was
pained by the awful solecisms of the Cockney
French.

It evidently troubled him, for, a few moments
afterwards he took a pencil and the back of an
envelope from his pocket and employed them
furtively under the table. He seemed to think and
write with great intentness for a minute or two. A
smile of contentment lit up his features as he
surveyed the result. Things went on quietly till
he became absorbed in another item on the
programme, when in turning round he swept the
scrap of paper from the table to the floor. I kept
my eye upon it all the evening, and, when



i88 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

the Royal party left, I stole it. It bore these
words :

" Deux beaux yeux poch.es !
Me v'la epate
je n'ai que dit :
' T'as tort, mon petit'
Deux beaux yeux poches ! "

His brother, our present King, has also a happy
knack of making others feel happy and contented
when in his presence, whether social or official.
I remember when as Prince of Wales he came to
Drury Lane one night, and Mr. Collins enquired if
he liked the pantomime, the reply was, " Yes, but
the Princess has a headache." "Oh," said the
manager, " I will send down to Mr. Glover to
moderate his brass and drums." " No no no,"
was the quick genial reply, " I wouldn't annoy Mr.
Glover for the world." " Oh, he won't be annoyed,"
said the manager. This charming thought has
governed everything the popular Monarch has clone.

Another experience at the Trocadero with Coborn,
was when he sang " The Man who Broke the Bank
at Monte Carlo." The audience simply would not
have the song at any price. They hooted, howled,
and hissed till one night Coborn made a speech
somewhat in this strain :

" Ladies and gentlemen, I am engaged here for
twelve weeks. It is my living. I am bound by
contract. Now for twelve weeks I am going to sing
this song every night and repeat the chorus till you
join in with me. The sooner you learn it, and sing
it with me then will I leave the stage; but not
before."

And London, in three months, reeked of " The Man
who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo."

It was at the Trocadero that Eugene Stratton,
who married a daughter of " Pony " Moore, of
Moore and Burgess' minstrels, first trod the English
music-halls, when he left the St. James Hall and
Burnt-cork land ; it was the old story, with a black



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 189

face they knew him and loved him, yet when he
sang " The Whistling Coon " with a white face,
well, as the American Lady says, " there were
chilblains in the box-office." Frost, large and deep,
attended poor Eugene so back he had to go to
popularity, fame and fortune with the burnt-cork
make-up.

This reminds me of Aynsley Cook the great Carl
Rosa buffo-vocalist and the late Mr. Sankey of!
Moody and Sankey, and once famous Evangelists.
Many people are not aware that at least one of
these Evangelists was a vocalist in a minstrel er w er-
tainrnent in America many years before they c~.^e
to England on their religious mission. They came
to Liverpool on their great campaign, and at a
time when Aynsley Cook, as the Baron in " The
Babes of the Wood," was singing a topical song
called " It's a fraud."

Cook I certainly think unwisely brought in the
Moody and Sankey movement, ending with the
gag- words "It's a fraud." This brought on an
acrimonious newspaper warfare, and Aynsley
Cook's disclosures in self-defence of the burnl-cork
attributes of the popular Evangelist.

Perhaps one of the most daring efforts of im-
promptu minstrelsy was when the late Arthur
Lloyd sang before the late King (then Prince of
Wales), when H.R.H. was in the chair at a smoking
concert of the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society :

" I must now award a word of praise to a guest who's

sitting there.

I mean that worthy party who so ably fills the Chair.
See how sweetly now he smiles, as pleasant as

can be ;
It's a sort of smile I read about but very seldom

see."

This sort of impromptu versification was once
very popular. The singer came on, demanded a
subject or word from the audience, and immediately
improvised a verse as suggested above. " Give me
a word, ladies and gentlemen," said the great
Disraelian propagandist, Charles Williams, a one-



igo JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

time famous motto-vocalist, one night at the
Paragon in the Mile End Road. " Metem-
psychosis," shouted a voice from the rear of the
hall, said to be the late dramatist, Henry Pettit.
" Pardon me," replied the vocalist, " I never touch
on religious matters."

" Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay " made the fortunes of a
Grand Theatre, Islington, pantomime. " Bally-
hooley " and " Killaloe " did the same for Gaiety
plays. " The Bogie Man " in " Carmen Up-to-date "
at the same house drew London ; and the late F. H.
Celli gave success to " La Boulangere " at the Old
Globe with Tosti's " For Ever and for Ever." As
I have explained, Arthur Sullivan was very much
chagrined when Teddy Solomon made his " Lost
Chord " the counter-melody of a Guards' Burlesque
hornpipe ; so in like manner Ascherberg, the music-
publisher, never forgave me a similar " true " with
the " Cavalleria " Intermezzo at Drury Lane.
Thousands went to the old " Pav." to hear Bessie
Bellwood sing " Alphonso the Fancy Man."

" Dorothy " first produced (a failure) at the
Gaiety lacked a song for Hayden Coffin. In the
absence in Australia of Alfred Cellier, the composer,
those representing him here refused to allow any
composition to be introduced but one of the original
composer's. In this wise a song called " Old
Dreams," published by the same publisher, was
found, and, with new words by B. C. Stephenson,
was introduced into the piece under the name of
" Queen of my Heart."

There is a general impression that this song was
first sung on the first night at the Gaiety. Such
was not the case. The Press rated the manage-
ment for leaving Coffin without a song, and the
introduction was made as above stated, but the
opera was a distinct failure, till it was bought over
through the confidence of a musical accountant
named H. J. Leslie, who took it to the Prince of
Wales' Theatre and gave it nearly a new cast with
Ben Davies and Marie Tempest to strengthen the
work.

Conspicuous in another Gaiety play was " Linger



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 195

Longer, Lucy," the first success of a young com-
poser, Sidney Jones. Sidney was first clarinet in
his father's police baud at Leeds, and obtained his
introduction to the theatre through succeeding me
in the musical direction of an itinerant " Fun on
the Bristol " Company, from which post I had
resigned over a difference in pitch with a coloured
Prima Donna. His greater successes " The
Geisha " and " San Toy," not to mention many
other favourites, all justified his early promise.

" Beer, Glorious Beer," one of the most insidious,
vulgar, catchy tunes ever heard, was written by a
stenographer named Stephen Leggatt, in Sir
Augustus Harris' employ. The song made him; a
realization of the sentiment finished him ! The
poor boy had a horrible facility for " knocking off "
cheap specimens of this kind, and on our visits to
the Continent, when he accompanied Sir Augustus,
Collins and myself, it was as much as we could do
to get him to do the letters. Harris had a specifically-
halting way of dictating, and often would say, when
at a loss for a word, " Tir-a-la, tir-a-la, tir-a-la, tir-
a-la," etc., etc. This poor stenographer's brain
would then, like a famous lyrist we all know,
wander off into " pantechnicon pantechnicon yes,
yes what rhymes with pantechnicon," and then
his master would resume the result being a con-
glomeration of Pitman's shorthand, his master's
side-talk, and a couplet or two of a song his mind!
was just then working out. Poor boy ! He deserved
a better fate.

Before concluding this chapter I will recount one
more humorous reference to the Trocadero as a
music-hall ; Bignell, who ran the old dancing casino,
never did much with it. Later on, Mr. Sam Adams
tried it, and Mr. Albert Chevalier with H. J.
Didcott, a famous agent, had a " flutter," which
ended in nothing. Sam Adams had a policy of
deadheads to run the bars with, which in one
instance gave rise to a very funny incident. He
used to issue thousands of free seats and stamp
them all with an india-rubber stamp, " NOT
ADMITTED AFTER SEVEN." This ensured the



192 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

place being crowded by seven, and when the regular
public arrived, they had either to " transfer " to, or
purchase a higher place seat. Sain was in financial
difficulties, and as a last parting shot engaged
Paulus, the Parisian comique, then in his " En
Revenant de la Revue " prime. But a kindly friend,
Clement Scott, was induced to do Paulus' ddbut for
the " Daily Telegraph," in those days a wonderful
feat a real live dramatic critic to go to a low music-
hall, and the next morning there appeared a column
of praise for the importation of " the atmosphere of
the Boulevards to Piccadilly." All London rushed
to book seats, and during the day cash, cheques,
and postal orders galore weighed down Sam Adams'
table. How well I remember his delight on his
sudden accession to wealth. Now Sam had a large
overdraft on his bank and the manager was holding
on in expectation of this engagement getting him
out of Sam's clutches ; so the music-hall proprietor
promised to " pay in " at once. Some hundreds of
pounds therefore were sent down before four o'clock,
when Sam's representative came back and threw
the entire deposit on the office Escritoire.

"For God's sake! " cried Adams, "what's the
matter? What's wrong? Are they all stumers
(i.e. worthless) ? "

" No," said the clerk, " but look at what you've
stamped them."

Adams rushed to the bundle of crumpled briefs
and there it was ; in the hurry of keeping his word
to the Bank manager he had used the wrong rubber
stamp. Nearly every cheque bore this simple, but
useless legend :

"NOT ADMITTED AFTER SEVEN."



CHAPTER XII

A National Opera-house No Permanent Orches-
tras in London in 1888 Bricks and Mortar Maple-
son's Police Station National Opera-house How to
really secure a National Academy of Music Augus-
tus Harris' Project How to collect a Permanent
Nucleus Mapleson's Discoveries Opera Schemes
and Schools of Music Sir Joseph Barnby Operatic
Fortunes How Good Opera pays Carl Rosa's
Discoveries.

FERDINAND GLOVER, baritone in the Pyne
and Harrison Opera Company, my uncle, died,
in 1859. In his papers I find a newspaper reference
in an Irish Journal : "Is there a future for English
opera?" On Saturday, April 29th, 1911, fifty-two
years later, I find Mr. Charles Manners asking
the same question in the " Morning Post." I have
elsewhere in this volume dealt casually with
the various points as to opera, merely making the
references personal. It is a wide subject^ but the
whole scheme must be taken as to music generally,
and there is no reason why the same successful
results should not ensue for English opera as a
dramatic fabric as have resulted from English music
as an orchestral education. My personal experi-
ences extend from the August Manns period in the
'Sixties, through all the history of these interesting
developments down to the knighthood of Henry J.
Wood, and the Guildhall principalship of Landon
Ronald and his New Symphony Band successes.
Given the musical groundwork with which to
experiment, anything is possible. Henry Wood
G 193



194 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

conducted musical comedy for Miss May Yohe (in
"The Lady Slavey") at the Avenue; Landon
Ronald had a like experience (" L' Amour Mouille ")
at the Lyric ; Charles Manners was in the chorus of
Solomon's " Claude Duval " at the Olympic, and
afterwards sang the Sentry Song in " lolanthe " at
the Savoy; and Walter Hyde went from the
frivolities of " Miss Hook of Holland," a trivial
musical song and dance olla podrida, to a trium-
phant Siegmund in " The Valkyrie," by Richard
Wagner, at Co vent Garden. I have made so few
quotations in these memoirs that the following may
be easily pardoned. Listen to what Colonel J. H.
Mapleson, the elder, writes about English orchestras
in iSSS :

" While on the subject of American orchestras,
I may add that their excellence is scarcely sus-
pected by English amateurs. In England we have
certainly an abundance of good orchestral players,
but we have not so many musical centres ; and,
above all, ive have not in London, what New York
has long possessed, a permanent orchestra of high
merit under a first-rate conductor. Our orchestras
in London are nearly always ' scratch ' affairs.
The players are brought together anyhow, and
not one of our concert societies give more than
eight concerts in the course of the year. Being paid
so much a performance, our piece-work musicians
make a great fuss about attending rehearsals ;
they are always ready, if they can make a few
shillings' profit by it, to have themselves replaced
by substitutes.

" All really good orchestras must from the nature
of the case be permanent ones, composed of players
in receipt of regular salaries. Attendance at
rehearsals is then taken as a matter of course, and
no question of replacement by substitutes can then
be raised. The only English orchestra in which the
conditions essential to a perfect ensemble are to be
found is the Manchester orchestra (Note : mostly
foreigners at this time), conducted by Sir Charles
Halle."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 195

Fancy! " We had not in London " a permanent
orchestra of high merit under a first-rate conductor
all "scratch" affairs only eight concerts in the
course of a year ! But sufficient for the simile.
Review the altered conditions here in 1912. Every
concert-hall and music-hall on Sundays, or any
possible building now has either its " permanent
orchestra," or regular season. Conductors shower
upon us, musicians even invest their own money
to form their personal combinations ; in the old days
the conductor engaged the musicians, now it is
different the men engage the man. " Richter,
unless you conduct well, we won't have you next
season." Fancy this position! But what T insist
is that exactly that which has been done in
orchestral music can be done in opera. It is all non-
sense to say the material " n'existe pas." It is
there, and plenty of it, and it would be much more
evident if the possible Tetrazzini, Caruso, or Melba
knew exactly that they could command a market.
I first wrote all this on the eve of the opening of
Hammerstein's Opera-house. I knew that Mr.
Hammerstein would be careful ! If, in the lan-
guage of his own countrymen, he could " deliver
the goods," well and good. Bricks and mortar were
easy to buy. You can go into any wholesale
builder's in London any day and order ten thousand
bricks, but one Caruso to sing in them when they
are put together is another affair. Did Mapleson
and, in his one Grand Opera venture, D'Oyly
Carte start at the wrong end ? " What are you
building this Royal Opera-house for?" said Sir
Augustus Harris to D'Oyly Carte one evening.
Harris really was jealous. " One of these days,
Carte, I will turn it into a rmisic-hall for you."
There are plenty of " bricks and mortar " institu-
tions ready ; it seems superfluous to encumber
the land with them till you have got the
talent.

Now let us see what Mapleson did. Here is his
programme for " The Grand National Opera-house,
Scotland Yard'," for few people know that the
present New Scotland Yard was the site half built



196 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

of Mapleson's white elephant. This was December
i6th, 1875 :

CEREMONY OF LAYING THE FIRST STONE

OF THE

GRAND NATIONAL OPERA-HOUSE
VICTORIA EMBANKMENT

Holders of Cards of Invitation will not be admitted
after 1.15

" The bands of the Coldstream Guards and
Honourable Artillery Company will be in attend-
ance, and a Guard of Honour will line the entrance.

" His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and
Suite will arrive at the Victoria Embankment at
half-past one o'clock.

" His Royal Highness will be received by Mr. W.
H. Smith, M.P., Sir James Hogg, Chairman of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, Mr. F. H. Fowler, the
Architect, and Mr. J. H. Mapleson, the Director of
the National Opera.

" On arrival at the platform, an address will be
read to the Duke of Edinburgh in the name of the
founders of the Grand National Opera-house.

" His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh will
then proceed to lay the first stone.

" The trowel will be handed to His Royal
Highness by Mr. Mapleson, the Director; the
plumb-rule and level by Mr. F. H. Fowler, the
Architect; and the Mallet by Mr. W. Webster,
the Builder.

" On the completion of the ceremony, His Royal
Highness will make a brief reply to the address.

" The Duke of Edinburgh will then be conducted
to his carriage at the entrance, by which His Royal



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 197

Highness arrived, and will drive to St. Stephen's
Club.

"St. Stephen's Club,
" i6th December, 1875."

The following address was then read by Sir James
McGarel Hogg :

" Your Royal Highness, On behalf of the founders
of the Grand National Opera-house, I have the
honour to present to your Royal Highness the
following address in which the objects of the under-
taking are set forth :

" The establishment of a National Opera-house in
London has long been contemplated, the obstacle
to which, however, was the impossibility of finding
a suitable site ; and it was not until that vast under-
taking was carried out by the Metropolitan Board
of Works, which has resulted in reclaiming from
the Thames large tracts of land, and in throwing
open the great thoroughfare of the Victoria
Embankment, that a site sufficient to meet the
requirements of a National Opera-house could be
obtained ; and it is this building that your Royal
Highness is graciously pleased to inaugurate
to-day.

" The National Opera-house is to be devoted firstly
to the representation of Italian Opera, which will
be confined as heretofore to the spring and summer
months ; and secondly, to the production of the
works of English composers, represented by English
performers, both vocal and instrumental.

"It is intended, as far as possible, to connect
the Grand National Opera-house with the Royal
Academy of Music, the National Training School for
Music, and other kindred institutions in the United
Kingdom, by affording to duly-qualified students a
field for the exercise of their profession in all its
branches.

" The privilege, which it is the intention of the
Director to grant to the most promising of these
students, of being allowed to hear the works of the



198 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

greatest masters performed by the most celebrated
artistes, will, in itself, form an invaluable accessory
to their general training.

" Instead of being compelled to seek abroad
further instruction when their prescribed course at
the various establishments is finished, they will
thus be able to obtain this at home, and more
quickly and efficiently profit by example.

" In Paris, when sufficiently advanced, the
students can make a short step from the Conserva-
toire to the Grand Opera ; so it is hoped that English
students will use the legitimate means now offered
and afforded for the first time in this country of
perfecting their general training, whether as
singers, instrumentalists, or composers, according
to their just claims.

" In conclusion, I beg leave to invite your Royal
Highness to proceed with the ceremony of laying the
first stone of the New Grand National Opera-house.

" Grand National Opera-house,
"Victoria Embankment,
" i6th December, 1875."

Mapleson intended this to be the leading Opera-
house of the world. The building was entirely
isolated ; a station had been built beneath the house
in connection with the District Railway, so that the
audience on leaving had merely to descend the stairs
and enter the train. Dressing-rooms, containing
lockers, were provided for suburban visitors who
might wish to attend the opera. Subterranean
passages, moreover, led into the Houses of Parlia-
ment, and arrangements made by which silent
members, after listening to beautiful music instead
of dull debates, might return to the House on
hearing the division-bell. He was sanguine enough
to think the Parliamentary support thus secured
would alone have given an ample source of revenue.

He had arranged with the Lyric Club, which
ultimately settled down in Coventry Street, to lease
one corner; the Royal Academy of Music, who are
only going into their new building this year,
agreed to take another. The contemplated buildings



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 199

included a new concert-room, together with a large
gallery for pictures not accepted by the Hanging
Committee of the Royal Academy, to be called " The
Rejected Gallery." Shades of Drury Lane!
"" Rejected addresses."

There were recreation-rooms, too, for the principal
artistes, including billiard-tables, etc., besides two
very large Turkish baths, which, it was hoped,
would be of service to the manager in cases of sore
throat and sudden indisposition generally. Such
was the fantastic idea, even so far as appointing
two throat doctors, Dr. (afterwards " Sir ") Morell
Mackenzie and Mr. Lennox Browne.

Sir John Humphreys had arranged for the pur-
chase of a small steamer to act as tug to a large
house-boat, which would, from time to time, take
the members of the Company down the river for
reheasals or recreation. The steamer was being
built by Thornycrofts. The house-boat was of un-
usually large dimensions, and contained a mag-
nificent concert-room.

The nautical arrangements had been confided to
Admiral Sir George Middleton, a member of the
acting committee ; or, in his absence, to Lord Alfred
Paget.

When about ^103,000 had been laid out on the
building, another ^10,000 was wanted for the roof-
ing; after which a sum of ^50,000, as already
arranged, could have been attained on mortgage.
For want of ^10,000, however, the building had to
remain roofless. For backing or laying against a
horse, for starting a new sporting club, or a new
music-hall, the money could have been found in
a few hours. But for such an enterprise as the
National Opera-house it was impossible to obtain
it ; and, after a time, in the interest of the stock-
holders (for there was a ground rent to pay of
^3000) Mapleson consented to a sale.

The purchasers were Messrs. Quilter, Morris and
Tod Heatly, to whom the building was made over,
as it stood, for ^29,000.

Later on, it was resold for 500 ; and the new
buyers had to pay no less than ^3000 in order to



200 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

get the walls pulled down and broken up into
building materials.

The site of what, with a little public spirit use-
fully applied, would have been the finest theatre in
the world, has now to serve for a new police-station.
"With such solid foundations, the cells, if not com-
fortable, will at least be dry. It is stated that the
underground rooms in the original scheme, which
were to do duty for future Melbas, Tetrazzinis and
Carusos, are now the receptacles of the " elect " of
the Metropolitan Police Department at Scotland
Yard.

MORAL.

December, 1875 Mapleson tries to build an opera-
house. (Turned into a police-station.)

December, 1890 D'Oyly Carte builds an opera-
house. (Turned into a music-hall.)

December, 1911 Hammerstein builds an opera-
house. (Result Just now in the balance.)

October, 1912 Hammerstein opera-house is for
sale.

Now, Mr. Carte, in his light opera scheme, really
laid himself out to do the right thing. He first
got his operas, his artistes, and his " material "
together, and then but not till then did he build
his Savoy. Following the success of " H.M.S.
Pinafore," he personally secured Gilbert and
Sullivan and the entire personnel of his scheme
before he bought a brick. He only failed in Shaftes-
bury Avenue because he applied light opera methods
to grand opera requirements. Had he gone on his
Savoy business model and stuck to general operas
instead of only one, " Ivanhoe," what a different
result there might have been. I do not know
exactly what the Royal English Opera cost, but
Mapleson says that he spent ^103,000, and Carte
must have spent ^125,000; so let us make a small
arithmetical calculation



Colonel Mapleson .... 103,000

Mr. D'Oyly Carte .... i25',ooo
Mr. Thos. Beecharn (by his own admission) 70,000

298,000



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 201

That is over a quarter of a million of money, and
" nothing doing." Mr. Thomas Beecham I first
remember him as conductor of a modest provincial
opera company of course, did not indulge in the
"bricks and mortar" idea; he decided, somewhat
haphazardly, one must admit, to start, and then
to look round for his artistes. Then of course he
discovered that all the remunerative copyrights
belonged to the Covent Garden Syndicate legacies
of the Augustus Harris Estate which, on his death,
with the accompanying scenery, the older house
bought for about ; 12,000.

What a wise policy on the part of this operatic
musical Machiavelli of the Victorian Era. He first
of all " corners " all the operas; he then similarly
garners in the artistes, and when in possession of
both well, he takes the opera-houses. These
points of view of mine are not new. I have
expounded them before in public, but not in such
detail. I originally had a scheme to divert all the
young operatic talent of our musical academies to
Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Augustus Harris
accepted it, and with the kind assistance of Sir
Joseph Barnby and Mr. Hilton Carter to be
referred to lacer we tried to enlist the Guildhall
School pupils into the scheme ; but this was nine-
teen years ago prejudices were too strong, and
our missionary efforts only ended in taking over
thirty fresh voices from the Savoy, and throwing
them on to " learn the operas." There is no know-
ing but that all this might have gone further if it
were not for Harris' too early death.

Before leaving this portion of the opera subject
I must mention a rather smart move which Harris
made to build up a " permanent " opera troupe.

One of his pet schemes was, what I called a
" when opera " contract, and this really was a
wonderful document. When an operatic artiste
came to Harris and asked for an engagement if
the artiste were at all decent, he offered them a
" when opera " contract that is, an engagement
at so much a week for three years, only to operate
when Sir Augustus Harris performed the opera no



202 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

matter in what language. Now, this contract only
practically bound Harris to fourteen weeks a year
the grand opera season and yet the very
moment he advertised or announced " opera,"
prime donne, contralti, baritones, bassi, and chorus,
fully equipped with a repertoire, all had to come
from any part of the world to London. Some of the
artistes who booked under this contract were Joseph
O'Mara, David Bispham, Madame Olitzka, the
Sisters Ravogli, Phillip Brozel, Charles Manners,
Fanny Moody, Richard Green and numerous others.
So that this position arose : if Lago, Mapleson or
other impresario announced a season of opera at
any London theatre the very next morning would
appear in all the Press, " Sir Augustus Harris
announces a short season of grand opera. Full
particulars shortly." And then off went the cables
all over the world to those who had signed these
contracts, and a ready-made opera company was at
hand in a few days. Lago, however, first brought
over " Cavalleria Rusticana ; " but it found its
haven very quickly at Covent Garden, as did both
the Sisters Ravogli discovered by Lago in like
manner.

Carl Rosa worked somewhat on a similar plan,
and the long procession of " stars " that he dis-
covered, and the eminent reputation and fortune
that he left, is a sure testimony to the undoubted
soundness of his policy. But he left " bricks and
mortar " alone. Because there is no market for the
opera stage, there is no output. Because there is no
output reqtiired, there is no manufactory. The
operatic classes at our schools of music cannot be
taken seriously. They are a species of huge
" Follies " entertainment with none of the " Follies "
humour. If the market were existent, it might be
worth while considering the point, and the young
student, too, might think it worth while to study
for a branch of his art which he now knows only as
a useless proposition. The drama in this country,
musical comedy, and comic opera, flourishes simply
because it is done according to Cocker. Grand
opera flourishes because it is subsidized and thus



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 203

rendered independent of haphazard patronage.
There remains our " National Opera," be it " opera
in English," or the national product. Mark you!
Mapleson in his " Memoirs " really admits twenty
years insolvency. His book is full of sheriffs
bailiffs, writs, and injunctions. And yet he boasts
of discoveries and the first introduction to England
of fifty-one prime donne and contralti Pattis and
Nilssons, Trebellis and Sinicos; fourteen tenors,
from Mongini to Capoul and Fancelli ; sixteen
baritones, from Jean de Reszke (first heard here as a
baritone) to Santley and Del Puente ; ten bassi and
dozens of Marios, Viardots, Giuglinis, Titiens, etc.
He boasts of twenty-three " first productions," of
which " Faust " (Gounod), " Carmen " (Bizet), and
" The Ring " (Wagner) are not the least famous,
and this without a banking balance ; and yet in spite
of this we are asked to accept the hypothesis that
because Mapleson found them, or revived them,
they all died with the old Colonel. Since the death
of Augustus Harris, however, the man has not come
along. The public have always shown their anxiety
to pay to hear good things if they get the chance.
Arrange to let them have this opportunity, and there
will be no need for croakers. Carl Rosa, Augustus
Harris, and J. Henry Mapleson did not croak from
the housetops. They " did " something gave the
country something and achieved something.

It certainly seems a pity that no better result can
be obtained, for I do think that more ink has been
spilled over " National Opera " schemes, schools of
music, and " academy " talk than would float a
Dreadnought, but as I have already mentioned and
suggested, the beginning has always been at the
wrong end. Just a few words more about how
Augustus Harris tried to adopt the pet scheme of
mine for embodying operatic experience not in-
struction in the curriculum of the various schools
of music, to which I have referred. It was a natural
sequence to his " when opera " ideas. If a man
wants his boy to be an architect, a watchmaker, or
adopt any other profession or trade, he articles or
apprentices him to that calling. He is thrown



204 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

among the professional experts, and in time he be-
comes imbued with the necessary spirit; the good in
him the genius in him, if any, comes out, and
he makes his way. Nobody deplores the dearth of
engineers, architects, or good handicraftsmen ; but
periodical howlings arise over the absence of good
vocalists and good artistes, and yet nobody ever
moves a finger to get at the right pulse. Harris, if
he liked, might have done this in 1895. I went
round to all the colleges with my propaganda already
mentioned, and found little encouragement. The
only hope was, as I have said earlier in this chapter,
at the Guildhall School of Music.

Sir Joseph Barnby tried his hardest to promote
our scheme that all the vocal pupils should be
apprenticed or attached to Drury Lane and Covent
Garden for three years at a small graduating pay-
ment. They would, of course, have to join the
chorus. They would have to be schooled in elocu-
tion, musical diction, and any regimal attributes
necessary to operatic training. When an under-
study was wanted, they would be given according
to ability and voice, of course an opportunity of
making a quiet, unostentatious dbut, and if
successful and encouraging, the rest was easy. The
scheme is not new in the drama or lighter music
school ; it has always served, but it had never been
tried seriously in opera on business lines. It had
never been place on a practical footing. When one
now joins the operatic class of any of our music
academies, it simply means a mere payment of fees,
a few courses of elementary training from professors,
who know little of what they profess to teach I
mean in stage musical training and one annual
performance in a dull theatre on a dull afternoon to
a sympathetic but for critical purposes, a useless
audience of parents and their friends, and the whole
thing is over. The Covent Garden idea even went
further. There was to be an entire repertoire of one
week's operas, like " Faust," " Romeo and Juliet,"
" Cavelleria " and others. These, for chorus purposes,
were to be immediately put in hand, and as the
suitable " Fausts," " Romeos," " Turridus " or



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 205

" Santuzzas," were discovered and got ready, then
they were to be given a chance with a view to future
presentation. The scheme was Utopian I admit, in
serious opera, and it had great possibilities. But
again, in the terse and epigrammatic language of
the United States, there was " nothin' doin '." To
emphasize the veracity of this point, I print the
decisive ultimatum from Sir Joseph Barnby and Mr.
Hilton Carter, the then Secretary of the Guildhall
School of Music, and now the popular manager of
the Albert Hall. The idea received every help,
hope and honest encouragement from these gentle-
men ; but to no purpose, and Hilton Carter on March
28th, 1895, wired me :

" No one accepts terms. Barnby and self have
done our best. HILTON CARTER."

In the face of such a blow what was the use of
trying to do anything ? Two theories presented
themselves to the impresario :

(1) Were our music schools only to be hot-houses
for the production of dilettante amateurs whose
musical education was to be merely a stepping-
stone to after-dinner torture in suburban drawing-
rooms ? Or

(2) Were they to be useful educational centres for
the encouragement of possible John McCormacks or
genuine aspirants who really desired a genuine pro-
fessional training ?

That we had no proper educational curriculum for
such a desirable end was evident. Two instances,
already mentioned, not taking a too serious view of
the art, will suffice.

HAYDEN COFFIN was cast, in 1895, for the part of
" Captain John Smith " in " Pocahontas " at the
Empire by Edward Solomon and Sydney Grundy.
The prejudice against him, because he had no
operatic training or schooling, was so great, that
the part was wrenched from him at the eleventh



206 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

hour, and an old hand, F. H. Celli, brought in. Ten
weeks later the financier, Mr. H. Osborne O'Hagan,
a gentleman whose musical knowledge is zeroesque,
insisted that Coffin sang in " The Lady of the
Locket." Result a sensational success.

And all have heard how WALTER HYDE was taken
from " Miss Hook of Holland," to Siegmund in
" Valkyrie " at Co vent Garden.

Both these artistes owe their introduction to their
only possible artistic metier through illegitimate
channels. Another instance a lady who has since
been favourably received as " Isolde " at Covent
Garden, was interviewed by my friend Mr. Sydney
Elliston at the Prince of Wales' and politely told
" Everything was full, except for chorus." This lady
had spent thousands of pounds on her musical
education. Then again Madame Tetrazzini was
offered to the Covent Garden management for the
Grand Opera Season times out of number, and only
allowed to creep in by the back door of an autumn
campaign because she was the sister-in-law of
Campanini, the conductor. This great artiste had
been well-known for many years on the Continent
and in the opera-houses of South-America, but for
some reason or other she never could get a hearing
in England. The management having theatre,
copyrights, costumes and scenery on hand, do an
autumn season, mark this, without practically any
" subvention " or at best with only a subscription,
immeasurably smaller in bulk and society than the
regular May to August campaign. What is the
result? The supposed non-appreciative British
public all rush, pack and besiege Covent Garden
during a period when they cannot be said to pay
only to see coronets, tiaras and all the panoply of
over-dressed society; what for to hear an artiste
because the Press have proclaimed her as one of the
finest in her line. Was Covent Garden merely a
peeress's promenade in this season? Certainly
not!

I could multiply these instances innumerably, but
a few will suffice. These little growls are not meant



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 207

in any unkind spirit, but the same business methods
that apply in the much belittled musical comedy
could be applied to Grand Opera or National
Opera with advantage. I well remember Fanny
Moody (who was not allowed to be a star at Covent
Garden) singing at a rehearsal on that stage for a
performance of " Pagliacci " at Windsor. Man-
cinelli passed by, remarking to me, " Tiens, tiens,
est ce qu'il-y-a des chanteuscs comme fa a
Londres ? "

Writing on the eve of another opera-house open-
ing in London, I was sorry to think that it
was going to follow the fate of similar enterprises
started in opposition to Covent Garden and end in
failure. The supply of material from a national
point of view should be considered. We don't
want bricks. We want uvulas.

It is all bunkum to tell me that English or shall
we call it National ? opera won't pay. Carl Rosa
left /jS.ooo, and Mapleson and Gye admit in their
records having made ^24,000 at Covent Garden
in one year 1879. Augustus Harris left about
jioo,ooo although how much of it was opera gain
one knows not. Mr. Charles Manners tells us that
he has made his " pile " and retires, and yet there
are the croakers who will go about and shout against
the musical taste of the public in this direction.
My theories about these matters may not meet with
general acceptance, but it is not fair to have the
musical taste slandered merely because it might be
wrongly catered for.

A friend of mine came on hard times once, and
being a journalist in early life he returned to that
profession to earn his livelihood, and to keep him-
self au fait with the times he purchased many
weekly papers. It was during the old china craze,
and he noticed the tiresome iteration with which so-
called specialists averred that " this is very rare,"
" that is the only specimen of so-and-so in existence,"
" there is only one other of these plates known
now in the possession of a curio-dealer in Boston,"
and so on. "Hello! " said he, "everybody says
things don't exist, but nobody goes into the



208 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

highways and byways and looks for them." This he
decided to do, with the assistance of his wife, and
with what result? The " solitary one extant" was
duplicated dozens of times; the " only twelve plates
on record of this " easily ran into dozens, and
finding- his market easily he was able to make a
small fortune. In one case he " had " a relation
beautifully. This collector boasted of his " rare

collection of s. This only one extant! " My,

friend easily bought thirty-six more pieces for 12,
and sold twelve of them to his relation for ^120

So it is musically. Everybody cries, " There are
no prime donne, there are no baritones, there are no
tenors " ; possibly not walking up and down the
Strand with labels on their backs. But nobody goes
out and looks for them. It is the same in a small
way with harpists. There has always been a sug-
gestion that harpists are scarce, and the best posi-
tion in London in this line is held by a foreigner.
But when I wanted twelve harpists quite recently
everybody said, " You can't get them they don't
exist," etc. ; but when it was publicly known that
1 did want them, I had one hundred and twenty-
eight applications, and one hundred of them could
read well at sight.

When " Hansel and Gretel " was once put on at
Covent Garden, with Jessie Huddleston and David
Bispham, many of the subscribers protested. Not
" good enough for the grand season, don't you
know," but the impresario stuck to his guns. As
long as you cater for an exclusive clientele, you
must put up with this sort of snobbishness.

But the whole idea wants careful and business-
like application. When Mr. Manners was at Drury
Lane many of the opera subscribers sent their
cheques for half-guinea stalls. When they found
that the stalls were only six shillings, they
demanded their money back, as " six-shilling opera
did not appeal to them." The clientele at Covent
Garden meant a subsidy of ^800 a night ; the outside
public, an average ^'300 i.e. 1100. But E .C.
Hedmondt, an unknown tenor, was able to open at
Covent Garden in October (not the grand season)



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 209

with a performance of " Tannhauser," which drew
^328. Therefore, fashion guaranteed for fashion's
sake ;Soo, and art for art's sake drew with
Hennondt's English crowd just as much in October
as it did in " the grand seasons." I have proved by
published figures at Drury Lane in Harris' time
that ^1500 a week can be taken at the doors for
English opera done spasmodically. What is there
to be gained when the idea is continuously run on
a business basis ? Ask Carl Rosa ^78,000.

So generally it all resolves itself into this, that
the average aspirant for operatic honours may have
the requisite voice material, but not the neces-
sary wherewithal for a Continental education. A
properly devised scheme of a real operatic school of
music in London, with the very best that could
be engaged of English and Continental maestri
as tutors, would open up an encouragement of
enormous value to the community. It would be
accessible to all and sundry at a moderate cost. A
consummation to be devoutly desired is the amalga-
mation of several of the existing schools of music
which are cutting each other's throats and all the
year carrying on an internecine jealous war. I should
devote one of them exclusively to the consideration
of opera in English, its study, its orchestral require-
ments, its choral department, its methods and its
elocution. To hear an English tenor speak lines in a
native opera " tickles me to death." Here he would
have the same tuition as I have often seen given to the
lyric artistes on the stage of the Grand Opera, Paris,
by its director, Gailhard, but which one from past
experience knows is never vouchsafed in London.
Till this is done, a National English Opera is as
far off as the millennium.

Carl Rosa, as I have said, left ^78,000, and out
of what? Julia Gaylord, Georgina Burns, Leslie
Crotty (a clerk in a Dublin bank in Abbey Street,
singing on Sundays at Whitefriars Street for my
master, Signor Cellini, and at evening concerts for
my mother), Ludwig (son of Ledwidge, second tenor
and music-copier in my grandfather's choir), Rose
Hersee, Blanche Cole, Fred Packard, Joseph Maas>



2io JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

'Charles Stanley, Ben Davies only to mention a few
names. But Rosa never built opera-houses ; he
hired other people's mansions ; but every one knew
there was a market with Rosa, and talent was not
slow to come alone.



CHAPTER XIII

People I have met " The Follies " Their origin,,
success, big Manchester Coup " Slang " Some
specimens Catch phrases Criminal stories The
Gattis again London Police Courts Mr. " Too-
cleverly " George Grossmith as a Bow Street short-
hand writer Holloway jail experiences Barney
Barnato Arthur Sturgess and Lord Mersey.

THERE exists only one " Follies." It means-
everything in up-to-date, good-natured humour.
It is to English drama what the real art of caricature
is to the French stage the " charge " to the serious-
newspaper, the " blague " to the topic of the day.
Many stories are told of the genesis. Few are true.
" Niggers on the beach," " perambulating Pierrots," 1
" Buskers " all are ventured as a true explanation,,
but none are correct. Let me just say here that
beyond " Uncle Bones " the original Christy-
Minstrel at Margate and one or two " buskers,""
nothing seems to have been done to elevate the
open-air entertainment till late in the 'Eighties,,
when four members of R. D'Oyly Carte's Opera
Company on tour, finding themselves faced with an
eight weeks' vacation, entered the business as " The
Mysterious Masked Musicians." From this starting-
point are sprung the hundreds of troupes which from
time to time appear on our seaside coast some-
good, some bad, some indifferent, but " all right in
the summer time."

It was in 1895 that a Mr. Sherrington Chinn,
recently deceased, started at Worthing a pierrot:
troupe called " The Follies," and some time after
Harry Gabriel Pelissier purchased the title and all
interest from the originator.
211



212 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

But then it was only a pierrot troupe, and one of
its members was Mr. Arthur Wimperis, who wrote
the lyrics for " The Arcadians." Now this enter-
tainment is our only London caricature, the true
embodiment of everything that travesty ought to be.
The male members are the most voiceless collection
of vocalists I ever heard, but goodness me, all their
quartettes and concert pieces are better sung than
the attempts of some real operatic artistes.

Gwennie Mars told me I would not listen to
her for the chorus at Drury Lane, but her thumb-
nail sketches of Harry Lauder and Wilkie Bard were
genius studies, and yet where does it all come from,
this realization of the real thing out of the supposed
nothing ? Why, Pelissier himself.

When the " Follies " first came under my notice
it was at Bexhill. I gave them ^35 for four perform-
ances. I noticed their talent ; the extreme individu-
ality of their new and original versions of worn-out
" trues " ; I saw their originality, and I was sure
that of all the " pierotteers " they were beginning
where all the others left off.

I was deputed to book the dates for the Midland
Theatre, Manchester, by Mr. W. Towle. I under-
took this task for six months, but the real season
was for Christmas time. Towle wanted something
good, so I had to think out a scheme, as I would be
then engaged at Drury Lane, and therefore could
not give the campaign serious attention personally
so I sought out Pelissier, and asked him what he
was doing. He informed me that he had taken the
Queen's Hall for his annual Christmas season of
one month, where the receipts were not encouraging,
but, as he remarked, " the London notices were use-
ful." I lured him to abandon the Queen's Hall idea;
he reluctantly consented, and accepted an engage-
ment at Manchester for me for four weeks at sixty-
five per cent, of the gross receipts per week. I then
started a plan of campaign in advertising him
suggested and partly wrote and made up a
" Follies " brochure, with which we flooded
Manchester. At the time I thought that I had a
malignant growth in my throat, and did all the



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 213

business in a half-hearted way, so I turned all the
real preliminary work over to Pelissier himself.

"The Follies," after they signed my contract,
appeared at the Tivoli in October, and made a
distinct success. To me then came Pelissier. He
funked the Manchester engagement, begged to be
let off. 1 declined ; pointed out to him the great
possibilities of a new Corny Grain-German Reed
business, but as an encouragement guaranteed him
that at sixty-five per cent, his receipts for any one
week would not be less than eighty-five pounds.
This seemed to satisfy him, but no sooner did I
settle Pelissier than I found I had to deal with Mr.
Towle of the Midland, who wired me as follows :

" Follies at Tivoli a music-hall not quite the
thing for us please cancel. " TOWLE "

I wasn't going to drop Pelissier, and be so easily
bowled over in this way, so I wired Towle after this
fashion :

" Nonsense, I am your agent and the principal is
responsible for the agent. They appear in December
/or Queen Alexandra's Birthday Party at Sandring-
ham, that's good enough for your public.

" GLOVER "

Of course, this was a Parthian shot, for the
Sandringham engagement was a bolt from the blue.
It came on us all like a flash, and any doubt that
might have existed in my mind was settled at once.
To Manchester for the " Follies " I was firm.

" The Follies " opened in Manchester on December
22nd, and I had arranged with Towle to pack the
house with paper including the Lord Mayor. On
the night of December 22nd I received the following
telegram :

" Glover, Drury Lane Theatre, London.

" Show never went better, full house including
Mayor, receipts over twelve pounds, advance book-
ing strong. Merry Christmas.

" HARRY "



214 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

But the " twelve " went into hundreds, and so a
great humour was preserved to us. At the end of
the first week Towle sent for me. " Look here," he
says, " your commission is ^63. Do you know I can
get a chef for ^3 a week ? "

" Yes, but a chef d'orchestre costs sixty-
three ! "

Of course, I knew my Manchester well I also had
seen " Bill Bailey," Pelissier's pantomime skit, at
the Palace, and knew how home it would get to the
ordinary provincial pantomime as it was done in
Manchester.

1 did not see " Bill Bailey " on its first night at
the Palace, when it was tried, but one who was there
writes :

" Anything more depressing than the circum-
stances of the first performance can hardly be
imagined. One of the thickest fogs I can recall
pervaded the auditorium. The house was not half
full. Across the footlights the Company could see
great gaps in the stalls. Those who had managed
to get to the theatre were by no means in the best
of spirits, but before the Follies had been on the
stage five minutes the attenuated audience, from the
stalls to gallery, was roaring with laughter, which
never ceased until after the curtain had fallen on
the last scene. Probably no one there that night
had realized the scope for burlesque provided by
the slavishly conventional characteristics of the
ordinary Christmas pantomime. The delightfullly
subtle treatment of the subject of speech, song,
dance, and ' business,' the quick changes of
costume, the grotesque scenery, and, not least, the
spirit of burlesque conveyed by the music, appealed
to the audience in a remarkable degree."

Pelissier manages to keep his company together
by absolute force of good- will, good humoxir, and
good temper. No more happy family exists, no-
more generous host, kind friend, and good fellow
lives. I am told that it is quite a common thing to
see this notice on the Call Board :



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 215



Apollo Theatre

Monday at n a.m. sharp

All concerned

PYJAMA DAY

H.G.P.



which means that " all concerned " are taken to
Bond Street and presented with beautiful suits of
silk pyjamas. Substitute "Motor Day" for motor
trips, or " Diamond ring " day but there let it
rest.

One thing that I have noticed in my three
decades of Bohemian life is the passing of
" slang " as a vehicle of conversation between the
members of the theatrical profession. " Slang "
the word used as a verb " to slang " in some of the
best society really means a " side show," and
" slang " language was the vernacular used by the
passing, or moving, showman in the fairs as they
talked to each other from their various stands in
much the same way as the Covent Garden porters
converse, or the coster fraternity carry on their airy
nothings in their own particular persiflage.

The travelling booth and the travelling gipsy, to
which one may add the old travelling mummer
(sometimes called " Barn-stormer ") , all drop into
this " slang " familiarity, and so for many years
even as the old-time mummer affected a certain
paraded dignity in the stars' dressing-room, his
insufficiently paid subordinate threw dignity to the
winds and used his " own perticler " bombast
in his wig-paste moments and puff and powder
patchings.

When I first started touring this " lingua franca,"
as it is called in Italy, was freely patronized by the
actor fraternity, and often gave me pause for much
thought.

I remember when the word " bounder " first came
into vogue, and it mystified me muchly, till one
day I found that it would often be used as a term of
endeannent, and that set my mind at rest.



216 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Augustus Moore, Dick Butler (the Editor of the
" Referee "), and " another," were one day at the
Gaiety bar. The " other " in anger appealed to
Moore. " Look here," he said, " Butler calls me a
little bounder what is a bounder?" "1 don't
know," said Moore, " you're the only one I have
ever seen."

But what irritated me more than anything else
was the use of what is known as " rhyming slang."
Rhyming slang consists in getting some phrase the
last word of which rhymes with the exact word that
you want to use, but to be adept, so soon as you
know your phrase you decapitate it of the rhyming
word and there you are. To ask for cheese by
saying " Pass me the battle " sounds fairly silly,
till you understand that " and breeze " is cut out.
To ask for a piece of " strike me," the word " dead "
rhyming with " bread," also wants taste, and when
asking a friend to have some liquid refreshment to
be told that he will have " A Polly and I'm so " is
chaos supreme till you understand that the rhyming
phrase is " I'm so frisky," though it certainly seems
a roundabout way of asking for Apollinaris and
whisky. To hear the old actors talk of " wing-
ing " it or " ponging " it, two phrases which
meant taking the words of a part from the
" wings " the prompter's box was also a curious
experience.

Actors used in the old days to be very fond of
using thieves' slang. A popular mummer's feast
was " a Jimmy." No self-respecting syndicate of
burglars ever think of " cracking a crib " unless
there is a sheep's-head supper provided as
a hors d'ceuvre to the evening's labours. The
sheep's head was nicknamed " a jemmy," an im-
plement used in the trade of burglary, an offence
which by law has to be committed beween 9 p.m.
and 6 a.m. If it is done in any other period it is
called something different, house-breaking or felony
but the Judge gets home all the time.

Personally, I always took a great deal of interest
in the criminal classes, and threatening myself once
with a barrister's degree, fell up against a good



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 217

deal of the real patois of the pick-pocket and jargon
of the jailer's birds. All the London Police Courts
have been more or less familiar to me Marlborough
Street and Bow Street in particular. At Bow
Street I spent hours and days, ay, months, studying
at first hand all the small petty life stories which
occupy the Courts of first instance. I did verbatim
reports of long cases (not professionally) for my
friends in the fourth estate. Arising out of what
was known as the Castioni case, I wrote a series
of articles on Extradition Law.

I thought that a profession which has as its most
ornamental high priests George Grossmith, the
elder George Grossmith, the entertainer grand-
father and father of the versatile George Grossmith
of the Gaiety was good enough for me.

George Grossmith Senr. was succeeded at Bow
Street by a Mr. Cleverley. A good chap he was, how-
ever, not inaptly described as Mr. " Too-cleverly,"
on an unfortunate occasion. It is a golden rule in
English justice that the proceedings of the
Magistrates' room are private, but when the
summonses were issued against Sir Henry Isaacs
and Mr. Horatio Bottomley over the notorious
Hansard Union affair, Cleverley sent the intimation
that summonses had been issued to the Press that
evening, and Sir John Bridge sent him an intimation
of his displeasure and intention to suspend him the
next morning.

At this time my French was rather well in hand,
so I went once to Holloway Gaol to take the
depositions of six Swiss-French conspirators, who
had been doing confidence trick-employment-agency
business this to oblige a solicitor friend to whom
I owed many a debt of kindness. In this wise I
became rather well known there, and my bona fides
were not disputed. Later on a friend got incar-
cerated on a serious charge, and in order to see him
alone, and not in the cage-like grille usually
apportioned to " visitors " who go to see their
friends, I adopted the solicitor's clerk subterfuge,
with the same authority that I had used in the
French case.



2i8 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Under such circumstances you are ushered into
a room with glass doors. The " dttenu " is then
brought to you with a huge number like a cab-
man's badge on his coat, and then you are left
alone. I awaited my friend. He came. The
humour of it appealed to him, and before the chief
warder could close the door, he burst out : " You're
a nice damned solicitor, you are." This the chief
warder overheard and reported, and the next that I
knew of this business was when an Inspector Jarvis
came from Scotland Yard and suggested that I
should be arrested for impersonating a solicitor. I
had some difficulty in explaining matters, but it
came out right in the end.

Another time I interested myself in the case of a
friend a journalist who wanted to interview a
murderer for a Sunday paper. He devised the
following trick to attain this end. He threw a
brick through a plate glass window of a shop, was
arrested over-night, brought up the same morning
in the same series with the murderer, and elected
to go to Holloway in default of paying the damage
and fine, so that he might travel in the identical
Black Maria. On arrival at Holloway, he having
accomplished this and interviewed the assassin
through the grill in the door his friends arrived,
paid all the fees, and he was liberated full of joy,
and copy. My friend once lived on the same line
as myself ; he asked me to allow him to introduce
me to a lady sitting in the corner of the carriage,
who he remarked, " is stopping with us for the

week-end." He did so. " Mr. Glover Mrs. P

etc.," and then in a side remark, " the famous child
poisoner."

Once again I paid a visit to Holloway to see a
poor actress who had attempted to commit suicide.
She had been there a week, she told me, and the
chaplain refused to see her because " she was on
the stage." I gave that chaplain two columns the
next morning in T. P. O'Connor's " Sun " oti
Christian Charity which did him more good than
any missionary expedition has done the savages
for many years.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 219

When Dr. Jim arrived under arrest in England
there were all sorts of ruses adopted to avoid a
popular demonstration, and I was fetched overnight
out of the Drury Lane orchestra, and Harry Wilson,
the well-known solicitor, out of the stalls, on the
same night and we were both offered a hundred
pounds if we could divulge the exact place of
landing for the then popular "traitor." I, for my
part, would at that time have been glad of a bit of
" ready," but how it got out that I knew is a
mystery. I really did know, but had to keep
silent, and waited outside Bow Street till the
appointed time, when they all arrived, and were
committed to Holloway.

When on the " Sun " we laid a trap for two
horrible people a black doctor and his mistress
who used to advertise in the Sunday papers, to lure
young women in trouble. They fell into the trap,
and we libelled them purposely, and the two
" Sun "-ites, a lady and gentleman, who carried on
the campaign cheerfully, went into the dock on a
criminal libel charge. I advised what counsel we
were to retain in the entire case, and suggested Sir
Charles Matthews, the present Public Prosecutor,
Sir Horace Avory, now a judge of King's Bench,
and Mr. John Maria Gatti successor to his father,
with his brother Rocco who had a few days pre-
viously been called to the Bar. The result of this
case was that in the end the black doctor and his
lady got five years and three years respectively, and
the S.E. district was ridded of two of its greatest
human monsters.

Although Mr. J. Gatti was called to the Bar, he
really never practised, electing with his brother
to carry on the conventions of one of the finest
businesses in England. What a table the old Gatti
circle gathered round it for years fifteen of which
I well remember. Augustus Harris, Robert
Buchanan, Henry Sampson, George R. Sims, Henry
Pettit, poor William Terriss, and the most informal
and convivial club that ever foregathered. Plays
were written, theatres built, syndicates formed,
house property changed hands, pleasant " soubri-



220 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

quets " coined, testimonials arranged, poor actors
helped, rich actors admonished, many a straggler
clinging to the last plank assisted forward by those
two jolly good fellows whose names will ever be
handed down to posterity for everything that was
commendable in any project with which their names
were associated.

One more " criminal " reminiscence and I have
done. In a case in which I was interested at the
Old Bailey, Sir Horace Avory cross-examined a
witness on forty-nine counts of a plea of justification
the most terrible record I have ever read. " Yes,'*
said the witness to the forty-ninth admission, " but
you'll be accusing me of murder next." Avory
looked down, turned over two pages of his brief,
and said : " Which one do you mean ? "

My financial resources never allowed me to get
about much with Barney Barnato, whom I knew
very well before the early African days. I once
assisted him in his performance of " Salem Scudder "
in " The Octoroon " at the Novelty Theatre, but
did not see him for some years till he returned for
good from South Africa. A story he told me at
this time is of more or less interest, so I will quote
it here with apologies for its crudeness.

In the early days of the South African boom they
opened a new hall in Johannesburg, to be used
principally as a synagogue. It was unanimously
decided that Kruger should be invited to perform
the ceremony. This he did, on condition that he
would not have to make any speech (it was after the
Majuba business), but merely formally declare it
open and retire. The eventful day came, and every
Hebrew for hundreds of miles was present. Oom
Paul arrived, mounted the platform, raised his hat,
gazed at the huge massed audience mostly of the
Jewish faithful present, and said but these few
simple words : "I declare this hall open iu the
name of our Lord and Saviour " but the rest \\v-is
lost in the excitement of the moment.

Another humorous case at Bow Street about
Coronation time may be cited. I had to wait the
whole morning for one of the forensic faculty



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 221

employed therein three light-fingered gentlemen
engaged in the lucrative, but risky, game of " dip-
ping," i.e. pocket or watch picking. These gentry,
all three arrived on the Saturday before the Corona-
tion the day of the big Suffragist demonstration in
Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately, they started
business too early, for one was caught in the act
of lifting an old gentleman's gun-metal " ticker "
which he had that morning wisely substituted for a
loo-guinea gold chronometer, and the other two were
apprehended as accessories or " coverers." The
" flagrante delicto " had on him 39, the other two
had only a few shillings. They all three denied ever
having seen each other. (i) Had come from
Australia to see the Coronation " quite natural that
he should have a sum of money on his person ; "
(2) and (3) " never had seen the fust gent afore "
they came from Liverpool loyalty George Vth
Coronation quite natural that they should be in
London unfortunate that they should have been
near the scene of operations. Result : No. i got six
months' hard labour the other two acquitted
really no evidence against them. In default of proof
that it was the proceeds of robbery, the Magistrate
ordered the ^39 to be handed over to the solicitor
acting for the convicted one, who, on the instruction
of his client, ordered the money to be handed over to
the other two " to carry on operations till I come
out."

Not the least amusing incident arising from the
olla podrida which I picked up in the Law
Courts, was the personal experience of an old
friend.

Owing to certain financial pressure, Arthur
Sturgess, who wrote unaided the English version of
" La Poupee," and collaborated in many of Old
Drury's pantomimes, found himself one morning
before Mr. Justice Bigharn now Lord Mersey. Now
Arthur had written a song in Drury Lane panto-
mime which was a great success, called " I don't
want to be a lady," and a Mrs Penruddock having
been fined only by Mr. Justice Bigham for heartless
cruelty to a child, the author adapted a verse to this



222 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

ttopic which was hugely encored every night for
anonths. This was the verse :

" I don't want to be a Lady,
I don't want to be " select,"
Always going " everywhere,"
Blazing jewels in my hair,
While my little child is dying of neglect.
I don't want to face the public,
Mothers would wish me good ;
And though the Judge thought " she's a swell !
Fifty pounds A bagatelle,"
Yet I wouldn't be that lady if I could."

The chorus was repeated and these two lines
substituted :

" And though Justice can be bought
In a certain Judge's Court."

It was some time after this that the rendezvous
'between Judge and Author above-mentioned
occurred, and this discussion between Judge and
joker took place :

SOLICITOR : The Defendant, my lord, makes quite
a lot of money.

JUDGE : Oh, does he ? How ?

SOLICITOR : Well, my lord, he writes all the
successful songs fgr Drury Lane
pantomime (here opening the'
" Daily Telegraph"). One he has
done this season is called, " I don't
want to be a lady."

JUDGE : Oh, he wrote that, did he ? (and the

future Lord Mersey smiled).

SOLICITOR : He owes nearly ^1200.

JUDGE : There will be an order made. You

must pay ten shillings a month .

DEFENDANT : That will take me about 70 years.

JUDGE : That has nothing to do with me.

DEFENDANT : But supposing, my lord, I can't pay
the first ten shillings ?

JUDGE : In that case I should keep a money-

box. Next case.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 223,

I must say this for Lord Mersey (Mr. Justice
Bigham), that it never imbued him with any pre-
judice for the theatre, which he has patronized so-
much ever since, but his love for the stage is no-
doubt educated, as the Sisters Dare, Zena and
Phyllis, were daughters of his ex-clerk, Mr Dones.



CHAPTER XIV

Andrew Melville Four bars of " agit " Realizing
the posters Picking up actors at Derby Station The
Maybrick case in " Faust " Wilson Barrett W. W.
Kelly The " queue " outside the Princess' box-office
The deadhead system Mrs. Langtry as a panto-
mime fairy Walton and Hemming The clog dancer
and the Prince of Wales Richard Mansfield "Ten
minutes for refreshment " Sam Lewis and the Peerage
Who wrote Shakespeare's Plays ?

OF the old school of " legitimate " actors that is,
mummers who walked, talked, and stalked the
country with what they were pleased to call
abbreviatingly " the legit," i.e. legitimate, none was
more popular than handsome George Melville, and
there was born unto him a son Andrew, called by
the irreverent " Merry Andrew." Andrew Melville,
or, as he styled himself, " Mr. Emm," fretted his
earlier struts on the stages at Swansea, Cardiff and
Bristol. A large big generous-hearted, boyish figure,
he attained a great popularity on his own particular
circuit, and amassed a huge fortune with a hap-
hazard method of theatrical management, which in
his case, dying as he did worth ^95,000, justified its
own ends. He was the father of that celebrated
firm who have given to the literature of the stage
that peculiar library of which " The Worst Woman
in London," " The Bad Girl of the Family," and
" The Girl who lost her character," are the most
successful specimens.

Apart from their literary attributes, it is astonish-
ing how success has followed many a play which
ran to length in their titles.
224



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 225

This long title is an old American dodge. At one
time the average Yankee Crummies always favoured
a long title. An English play once a success in our
provinces as " Kindred Souls," was on its Trans-
atlantic performance described as " Out of the
Frying Pan into the Fire," and Mr. George R. Sims
has an unpleasant remembrance of a play of his
called " The Gay City " being toured in America as
" Skipped by the Light of the Moon " ; again, dur-
ing this cycle of taste in long titles I remember
seeing a hybrid sort of play in Philadelphia called
" The Girl who eloped with a Circus Rider."

" Dagonet " could not for many years trace the
means by which his brain effort was pirated for
America till it was explained to him that two enter-
prising Yanks followed the English tour of his play,
sat in the pit every night in each town and anno-
tated all the dialogue on a succession of numbered
visiting cards which they dropped into an inverted
tall hat during the performance and duly tran-
scribed night by night at the conclusion on their
return to their hotel.

But to return to " Mr. Emm." I had previously
visited his many theatres in various touring
capacities, and I had many instances of his peculiar,
but always straightforward methods, so that I was
not quite taken by surprise when one Christmas
Eve morning, 1888, he wired me to come to
Birmingham and write the music for his first panto-
mime " St. George and the Dragon," to be produced
on Boxing Morning to open the Grand Theatre,
Birmingham. I arrived at Birmingham at three,
and took down a list of forty numbers to be written
or scored, really a month's work, and at six o'clock
offered to go home and try to get some idea of how
it was to be done. " Nonsense," said Melville, " we
produce a new drama to-night called ' Bitter Cold,'
or ' Two Christmas Eves,' and I want about sixty
' melos ' numbers for that. Take them down." At
this time musical directors travelled with a book
of " agits," i.e., agitatos, "slows" that is,
slow music for serious situations " pathetics,"
" struggles," " hornpipes," " andantes " to all
H



226 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

which adapted numbers called " melos " any dra-
matic situation was possible. Armed with my chart,
I got on through the middle of the evening, when I
saw a man writhing in agony on the stage. " My
God! I'm dying curse her! She has poisoned
me but if there is justice in heaven may the rest
of her life be a hell on earth gug gug gug,"
writhed the actor, and down he fell prostrate. Just
then the tube whistle in the orchestra blew hard.
"Who's there?" said I. "Melville," was the
reply. " Well, what of it ? " I answered, " play up,

old man." "I've no cue." "Cue be d d!

Don't you see a man dying on the stage ? Give us
four bars of ' agit.' "

Melville was called " Realize the Poster Melville."
He bought up stocks of old picture posters, and
whatever the play, he realized the poster in that
play. I remember one Henry Hampton, an old
actor, refusing at Newport to play " The Wandering
Jew " with a dog following him all through the
piece just because there were some posters to be
used up in which a dog played a prominent part.

To enlist a battlefield picture in " East Lynue "
was quite an easy matter, as a vision would appear
to the dying Willie Carlyle, and he would have a
death scene written in contemplating earning the
V.C. on the battlefield if he was not being prema-
turely killed by tuberculosis said act of heroism
being displayed (in the vision) with a super dressed
in a costume sufficient of an anachronism in a stage
setting which gave a Crimean outfit in a 1900 South
African background, with a pound of red fire, two
squibs, and a pistol shot.

The night of our pantomime season finished, the
town of Birmingham was covered with posters and
streamers announcing a play called " The Roll of
the Drum." These he had bought from a stranded
company of actors a few weeks previous. " But,"
I protested, " you have no company engaged."
" Oh ! " said Melville, " that's all right. I'm
coming as far as Derby with you to-morrow
(Sunday) and one can always pick up a few good
actors there, or at Crewe, on their way home. And



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 227

so it was. A half-a-dozen actors en route to London
" resting," a local historian or two, a few stray
accessories and he opened all right on the Monday
night.

There were occasions, however, when things did
not synchronize with good taste in his theatres and
this is one of them. The following appeared in the
" Era " just about the time of the Maybrick case :

" The gentleman who is playing Siebel in the
melodrama of ' Faust ' at the Grand Theatre,
Birmingham, this week, has a line which was taken
the other evening to be a sympathetic reference to
Mrs. Maybrick. It was applauded to the echo, and
the delighted actor was encouraged to make an even
more pointed speech ' Better that sixteen hardened
criminals should escape than one innocent creature
suffer, so give the culprit the benefit of the doubt.'
It was a daring thing to gag in Goethe even Goethe
chastened by T. W. Robertson."

And this, too, before the unhappy woman was
reprieved.

In his later days he had a habit of forgetting to
answer letters, but if you met him and upbraided
him with this carelessness he was on the alert at
once and " replied " then and there in quaint
fashion for he wore a large opera hat, with a
writing pad and an unspillable excise ink-bottle
inside, a small clasp holding his latest unanswered
correspondence by his side. He would then say,
" When did you write me? oh yes, on the tenth,"
and ferret out the particular communication to
which he would still upright scrawl a hasty reply
on his improvized writing desk. I experienced this
myself once on Brighton Pier, shortly before his
death.

At this time I came a good deal in contact with
Kelly, who had a great deal to do with the
" Princess " in the old Wilson Barrett days. Wilson
Barrett, it may be remembered, made a huge
fortune lost it and then regained it with " The
Sign of the Cross." "The Lights o' London,"



228 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

"The Romany Rye," "The Silver King," and
others had all bulged out his earlier banking
balances. These were in Henry Herman's days.
Wilson Barrett always wanted to play " Hamlet."
" Neffer till I am ted " replied Herman, and so
it was. Herman dead " Hamlet " came and other
financial failures with the prognosticated result
till " The Sign of the Cross " retrieved his fortunes
and he paid everybody in full. Wilson Barrett was
a man of great honour.

In the meantime, Kelly, after some personal
ventures, tried to lead Wilson Barrett back to
Oxford Street. At this time the creditors of both
managers were many. So " Ben-my-Chree " by a
then new author (Hall Caine) was announced. The
first night was a triumph. Kelly went behind to
see Barrett.

" What do you think? " said Kelly.

" A huge success," replied Barrett. " You read
Clement Scott in the morning, ' a triumph.' Two
columns in the ' D. T.' Run for twelve months,"
proudly boasted the actor manager.

" I don't think so," replied Kelly. " A good
play ; Hall Caine fine writer but not ' Princess '
goods."

" You're wrong, Kelly," said Barrett. " I know
this theatre ; to-morrow morning when you come
down here you will find a queue outside the box-
office leading down to Oxford Circus."

" Glad to hear it, Barrett. Good night," and
Kelly went home a happier and a prouder man.

" Now," says Kelly (who tells the story well),
" at that time I lived in St. John's Wood a three-
shilling cab-fare and money was not too flush ; so
the threepenny ' Atlas ' 'bus sufficed in those days
of slow locomotion. The morn was fine, the sun
shone brightly I left my house early. I had not
slept all night ; that ' queue ' of Barrett's haunted
me yes, a queue down to Oxford Street. What
luck ! What fortune ! A wave of prosperity no
catching cold sitting in the overdrafts. No, shall I
'bus it this morning ? I have four-and-six left ; or
shall I cab it ? Barrett was right. I opened the



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 229

' Daily Telegraph ' two columns of Clement Scott's
heroics. So I hailed a handsome, which I could ill
afford. As we turned down Portland Place into the
Oxford Street, there it was, sure enough ! Barrett's
' queue ' was there. ' Joy, delight and luxury '
' Hurry up ' (to the driver) , ' I must get there
quick ' They might want assistance in the box-
office it might come on rain. In due course the
cab pulled tip. Three shillings ! Lord ! look at the
queue gave him i'our-and-six. The extra eighteen-
pence all the money I had, what did it matter ?
No more worry, overdrafts, or anxieties, and in I
rushed. ' What's this.? ' I blurted out to the box-
office keeper, who was indolently smoking a
cigarette and not selling a ticket. ' Why don't you
attend to the people? ' "



" Yes, the queue was there a long one, but not
booking seats but a horde of Barrett's creditors
and mine ! They had all seen Clement Scott's
' Daily Telegraph ' notice, and came down early for
a ' bit on account.' "

Poor Barrett ! Poor Herman ! How they
quarrelled with H. A. Jones as to who really did
write "The Silver King," and how Jones insisted
on his name being suppressed, and how the play

was announced as "By Henry Herman and " !

All this is dramatic history. And now Barrett and
Herman are dead and the play is announced as by
Henry A. Jones, ALONE.

Henry Pettit once kicked up a row because
Kelly was running his "Black Flag" on the
" transfer " system at the Olympic. This in the
old days meant flooding the cheaper parts with
paper or " dead-heads," and their " transferring "
to a larger-priced portion of the auditorium, and so
on ; so much so that by the time the evening was
through quite a respectable amount of money was
paid into the "treasury." Pettit thought that he
would be clever; so in order to swear a personal
affidavit against Kelly he would slip into the
gallery on a batch of these orders, unobserved. He



230 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

had provided himself with Kelly's " orders " for
each part of the house, and as he was paid by a
percentage on receipts his idea was to prove their
real non-existence. I will tabulate his experi-
ences :

s. d.
Paid Early Door to Gallery . . 6

(to avoid " deadhead " crush)
,, Transfer to is. 6d. Pit . .10
,, ,, to 2s. 6d. Circle . .10

,, ,, to 55. Balcony . .26

,, ,, to IDS. Stall . .56

,, Programme 6

,, Cloakroom ..... 6

H5. 6d~

"Fancy! " said Pettit, " it has cost me us. 6d.
to see my own play with an order."

Few people who know that charming lady,
delightful sportswoman and excellent actress, Lady
de Bathe, will appreciate what a good-natured
humorist she is in the cause of charity. She once
with Claude Lowther, M.P. disguised herself as a
flower-girl and sold flowers in the Haymarket out-
side the clubs to such a state of realism that Lord
Brabazon did not recognize her, and made an
appointment with her the next day to further
patronize her floral wares. And again, at the
Princess', during her " Antony and Cleopatra "
season, she with Arthur Bourchier played a " harle-
quinade " to make money for the little ones in the
Theatre.

Claude Lowther, who has just presented Herst-
monceaux Castle to the public, once got himself into
trouble for an innocent piece of Carnivalian humour
at Co vent Garden. He dressed up a dummy of poor
Gus Harris Inverness cap and all, and worked it
in imitation of making a speech from a private box,
but to an unsympathetic and humorless officer in
blue, who promptly carted the offending one to Bow
Street.

In the old Covent Garden days under Charles
Rice, the leading feature was " The Walton and



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 231

Hemming " family a fine and old troupe of panto-
mimists, some of whom are still happily living.
This family had a standing order with a Mr.
Gillespie, who owned a small music-hall at Burnley,
that if ever they had a week "out" they could
always fill it in at short notice at a nominal salary.
Thus they found Holy Week on their hands at the
end of the pantomime season, and having been
patronized by the Prince of Wales and suite at the
Covent Garden the week previous, wired Gillespie :

" Coming next week. Announce us as having
recently appeared before H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales."

Thus they were advertised the town posted the
engagement boomed. On the Monday night, during
a clog-dance by one of the troupe which dance is
played very piano by the band to admit of the steps
being heard a man rose in the circle and shouted
out :

" Waal, if yon's bin afore t' Prince of Wales, our
Jack 'as no richt to be i' factry."

Richard Mansfield, time has shown, became a
great actor. When I met him on tour playing Sir
Joseph Porter, in " Pinafore " he had about six
pounds a week, and led a more or less secluded
life of cynical comments, ascetic aphorisms, and
Bohemian peculiarity. He was hard up, so he said,
on Chester platform one Sunday, and offered to sell
me the libretto of a one-act comic opera for three
pounds if I paid him a deposit of ten shillings at
once. I forked out the only ten shillings I had, not
being able to appreciate which was the greater
calamity ine a poor touring chef d'orchestre with-
out money, or he, an important star actor in a
similar capacity. He duly delivered the play. It
was called " Ten Minutes for Refreshment." It
had one of the longest runs on record ; first produced
it ran at the Olympic for two weeks ; then purchased
by the late H. J. Kitchens for six pounds, it ran at
the Royalty for sixteen weeks; and later on at the



232 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Empire for sixteen weeks. At one time we saw
a good deal of each other. But he was a peculiar
bird, arid recently in America he would hardly speak
to me.

It was during this period that I met the late Duke
of Newcastle, who in common with other straw-
berried nobles patronized the theatre a good deal
not merely from the front of the house. His Grace
of Newcastle was so interested in one " leg-show "
house as burlesque temples were then called that
he had a suite of rooms furnished over the Green
Room, and being an ardent Roman Catholic, had
Mass said every morning as a fit and proper over-
ture to the day's good work.

At the opera in Harris' days I often promenaded
the foyer during the entr'actes with the late Sam
Lewis, the famous moneylender whose bequests to
charity were epoch-making in their munificence,
whom I knew in childhood's days in his early
Dublin beginnings. As we walked up and down
one night our conversation was interrupted with
recognitions from me to the various passers-by :
" Good evening, Lord -" ; " Yes, Your Grace, we
will possibly do ' Tristan ' on Saturday." " No,

Lord , Madame Melba does not sing till the

25th," and so on, till Sam said, " You seern to
know 'em all 'ere."

" Oh," I replied, " purely official. But surely
you know most of them, Mr. Lewis ? "

"Yes, of course I do; but they don't know me
here ; but on Monday morning at No. 6 Cork Street,
their affability is wonderful. I'll have them all in
regularly sure as nuts."

The death of Sir William S. Gilbert reminds me
that he periodically repudiated all the clever things
attributed to him in conversational repartee. The
hero of more inverted commas than Shakespeare,
was an old friend of mine, and during the Collin's
regime he sent me a telegram every Christmas Eve
for twelve years, asking me to reserve him two
seats for the dress rehearsal, " right behind you."
He loved to hear the children sing the comic songs,
although expressing himself as doubtful as to their



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 233

humour, and was always interested to see the
scheme of colour worked out of the pantomime. Of
its comedians, he could enjoy them all except the
music-hall portion, and these he could not tolerate.
It has not been generally stated that a good deal of
his fortune he invested in bricks and mortar ; apart
from his Savoy interest he was the freeholder of the
Garrick Theatre.

All the stories about his being rude to people are
all moonshine. I have conducted his operas and
met him socially, and my experience has always
been as others' a' real English gentleman. His
writings speak for themselves, but one thing may
be noticed the model that he worked up. From
the " Sorcerer " onwards he made all his characters,
on their first entrance, acquaint the audience as to
their identity just a few : " My name is John
Wellington Wells I travel in Magical Spells "
(Sorcerer). " I am the Captain of the Pinafore, and
a right good captain too ! " "I'm dear little butter-
cup " (Pinafore). "A wandering Minstrel, I"
(Mikado), and so on right down to the end of the
chapter. He was generous as an opponent, and
when he once politely refused to be interviewed
by an impertinent American journalist, and the
journalist replied, " I shall be pleased to write your
obituary for nothing," he behaved magnanimously
in the legal proceedings which followed. The last
time I ever spoke to him was on Christmas Eve
last, 1910, when he remarked on the serious-
development of the heavy pieces of music played
while the pantomime scenes were changed.
" Why," said the Bab Balladist, " it means a dozen
small overtures I wonder how Sullivan would have
got through it?" This, or course, referred to
Sullivan's laziness, and invariable neglect to write
or compile any overture for his operas, which, in
early days, he left to Alfred Cellier, and in
later times, as I have remarked, to Hamilton
Clarke.

Poor Hamilton Clarke ! How he used to love to
tell the story of the " h'less " ballet master rehears-
ing the dances in Irving's " Faust " ! " Lydies



234 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

ritnember you're not dancing on 'amstead 'heath,
you're dancing in 'ell."

W. S. Gilbert's father, on the other hand, ivas a
gentleman with a choleric temper, and it is quite
possibly that the sins of the father were unjusti-
fiably visited on the boy. Gilbert pre once called
at the " Saturday Review " office in which paper
a criticism of one of his books had appeared to
which he took objection. " On what business,
sir? " queried the office boy to the writer's demand.
" To thrash the Editor," was the naive reply but
the Editor was " out."

Of stories fathered on to popular personalities
there is no end, the latest of which is that Seymour
Hicks when producing R. Louis- Stevenson's
" Hampden Club " at the Coliseum referred to it as
written by " the author of ' Dorothy.' " Shades of
Robert Louis and B. C. Stephenson the latter a
genial, clever writer, whose most exciting experi-
ence in life was his being arrested as a murderer
in Switzerland, and whose good fortune was the fact
that the Brothers Gatti Senators then in the Swiss
Parliament were near at hand to bail him out.



CHAPTER XV

Olla Podrida The progress of the music-hall
" Faust " in a music-hall in the 'Sixties " Potted "
opera no novelty Types of singers in the past The
Sisters Leamar Belle Bilton, i.e. Lady Dunlo, the
Countess of Clancarty Various music-hall stars The
Empire Starting it as a music-hall " Wiry Sal "-
Jack Jaivis George Edwardes " Refreshment con-
tractor " And Manager The Palace Its opening
Its failure Its finance Its success The improve-
ment in the music Sound music for the people " The
Times " protests I reply General remarks An Irish
inscription Two " Faust " stories Strauss and Wag-
nes A " Caux " celebre Nicolini Actress-Peeresses.

DURING my time there has never been any
amusement development which has been so
marked as the change in the temperament of the
music-hall. I use the word " change," not improve-
ment, advisedly because in many senses the altera-
tion has only been a reversion to type, but still
under conditions which bode well for the better
amusements of the classes. In the music-hall proper
now submerged into the words " variety theatre "
it is usual to date back all records from Charles
Morton at the old Canterbury in the Westminster
Bridge Road, which contained sufficient pictures on
its walls to have it described by George Augustus
Sala in " Punch " as " The Academy over the
water," and to all intents and purposes it is not a
very bad landmark, for at a time when those
operatic managerial giants Mapleson and Gye were
discussing the merits of a newly-produced opera in
Paris called " Faust " by Charles Gounod, it was at
the Canterbury Music-hall that Gounod's music
235



236 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

was actually first heard in England. Indeed,
Maplcson took Mdlle. Tietjens to the Canterbury to
hear this " Operatic selection " before he decided to
do it at the old Her Majesty's Theatre. Tietjens
was the original " Marguerite " in English, and
Sir Charles Santley, the original " Valentin," is
the sole survivor of the opera's first English per-
formance on any stage.

It will be seen, then, that if the music-hall proper
commences with " Faust " by Gounod in 1861, it
has not " progressed " much, but merely amplified
its former artistic nature in 1912, when we find the
Carl Rosa and Moody and Manners forces in the
great fight for variety theatre " bill topping." Again,
Emily Soldene did a " potted " version of Herve's
" Chilperic " in the 'Seventies in the halls, so that
" condensed " comic opera is nothing very new
when one comes to consult the records, so all the
snobbish " flap-doodle " about the indignity of
" going on the halls " in the 'Eighties was mere
bunkum. From the 'Sixties to the 'Eighties we had
very little to cater for the music-hall taste except
the Canterbury Hall just mentioned on one side of
the water, and the London Pavilion, Oxford and
Royal (Weston's) in Holborn on the West-end side.
The " Great Vance," who died suddenly on the
stage of the " Sun " music-hall, Knightsbridge, on
a Boxing Night what time he was singing a song
called " Is he guilty? "; the " Great " Macdermott
introducing " We don't want to fight but by Jingo
if we do " ; George Leybourne, " Champagne
Charlie," and nearly all down to the James Fawn
and the Arthur Roberts schools all marked time.
These two latter are still enjoying a merry exist-
ence, and so also is Horace Lingard, who sang

" On the beach at Brighton
On a Summer's Day."

at the Canterbury in the 'Sixties, and who after-
wards married the charming actress, Alice
(Dunning) Lingard. The topical and motto
vocalists, Charles Williams and Fred Albert only
te mention two names the " Two Sisters " turn,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 237

the descriptive vocalist and the sentimental balladist
all made up a programme of more or less variety.
In these days " The Chairman " who sat in the
middle of the stalls " with 'is 'ammer in 'is 'and,"
called " order " to the rowdy gallery and vouch-
safed his " orders " at the expense of the favourite
few who surrounded his table, Was the general
manager of the whole entertainment. He could kill
an encore with his " Mr. So-and-so will oblige again
later on in the evening," or he could make one
with his hammer applause and raucous " encores "
in these cues giving the lead to all and sundry
interested in their particular stage idol or divinity.
Many were the various types of " The Sisters "
turn, one of the more popular being " The Dashing
Sisters Leamar," one of which married a Mr.
Buncombe of the Feversham peerage. To the strains
of the notorious " My Queen " waltz these ladies
packed the old Royal, Holborn, and there all the
young bloods went to hear them sing :

" Go and inform your Fath-er
Won't he be angry ? Rath-ei !
Mention the youth,
Tell him the truth ;
Nothing conceal,
Say how you feel."

Later on we had " The Sisters Bilton " Florrie,
who married a Mr. Seymour, and Belle, who became
the first Countess of Clancarty.

I first took these two in hand as children what
time my uncle, W. F. Glover, was conductor, and
I succeeded him with a children's " Cloches de
Corneville " Company, in which they were infant
choristers, then run by Charles Bernard of Bernard
and Christy's Minstrels. It was from Mr. Christy
that the term " Christy Minstrel " was evolved.
We opened at the old Gaiety Theatre under John
Hollingshead, and toured for some months. It was
necessary that we should house, feed and clothe the
sixty prodigies in each town, and many a happy
afternoon I spent with the two little Bilton girls,
one on each knee, telling them fairy stories; then



238 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

they grew up, came into my adult " Cloches "
Company Shiel Barry, the original, as the Miser
left the stage proper, and joined the music-halls.
Later on I think I had a hand in the reconciliation
between Lord and Lady Dunlo. Whilst his Lord-
ship was in Australia I assisted her considerably,
aiding her to win her divorce, and for my pains
had her personal thanks on the night of the verdict
in her favour, when, as before stated, she visited
the Comedy Theatre with Sir Augustus Harris,
under whose management she was about to tour.
Harris announced her as :

LADY DUNLO

in
" VENUS "

and Florence Bilton, her sister, then with a more
or less rival attraction " Faust-up-to-date " Com-
pany, the same week was announced as :

FLORRIE BILTON

sister of
LADY DUNLO

in
FAUST UP TO DATE

Alas, those old Gaiety days :

" Gone away are the Gaiety girls,
With their powered noses and tricked-up curls ;
Gone away are these syrens smart,
Fertile of kisses, but barren of heart
Bowing alternately cold and hot
Steadfastly sticking to all they got
Filling a bevy of hot-brained boys
With maddening hopes of untasted joys."

Thus the admiring scribe when the old house was



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 239

pulled down to meet a County Council improve-
ment.

I do not intend this chapter to be in any way too
historical or analytical, only a cursory introduction
to give one an idea of the evolution of the present
music-hall. For this reason I may mention some
other names ; the great Jenny Hill great in every
sense Bessie Bellwood, or Charles Godfrey, or
many others both of these descriptive vocalists of
giant strength.

When we talk of the novelty of modern play
sketches in the modern music-hall, what about " The
Stowaway " with Jenny Hill in the 'Eighties, the
natural pathos and strength of drama of which it
took a whole column by Clement Scott in the
"Daily Telegraph" to depict? This was an
Adelphi-esque sketch written by Frederick Bowyer
and packed the old Canterbury Music-hall for
weeks. Or out of a thousand others in the lyric
world, Charles Godfrey's " Hi-tidclily-hi-ti " a
bibulous ditty which ranks, as an item, with the
best of Paulus and the most human of Yvette
Guilbert.

The " descriptive " song had, of course, its cheap
moments. A curiously illiterate but none the less
popular example, often quoted at the time, was :

" The honest servant-girl God defend her.
What cleans up your hearthrug and your fender
But what I want to know,
Yes, I want to know AS*
What have they done with
Mr. Peabody's MONEE ? "

I have accented in Capitals the points emphasized
in rendition by the singer.

This, as may be noticed, is not rhyme, reason or
sense, but it really is not a bad specimen of the
class of poor literature which flooded the few music-
halls then about sandwiched in with some of the
better class of entertainment mentioned before.

Albert Chevalier started a new era of music-hall
literature. As an actor he had attained fame at the



24 o JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

theatre at least, fame before it was a day of ^300
a week comedians. In his spare moments he wrote
plays, burlesques and songs yes, real songs those
lovely Coster ditties which charmed all and sundry
at soirees, at-homes, or private functions, notably
the old Pelican " smokers " and Bons Frtres
concerts at the Cafe Royal. But for years nothing
would persuade him to give the huge outside public
the benefit of his great art and talent but he
succumbed at last, and I shall never forget his
nervous anticipation a few hours before he appeared
in the London Pavilion on his opening night as we
cheered him up in the neighbouring Pelican Club.
" Our 'Arinonic Club " " 'Ave a glass a-long o' me
won't-yer," " The Crushed Tragedian " all were
delightful.

It is interesting to show how some of these songs
came to be written. Notably " 'Ave a glass a-long
o' me." There was a dear little fellow an actor
named Alfred Balfour who used to frequent the old
Gaiety bar called " Prossers Avenue " on account
of the number of hard-up-half-crown-borrowing-
drink-cadging actors who haunted its portals.
Balfour used to have a regular appointment there
with an old friend, but his pride was so great that
fearing that his inability to purchase drinks might
be translated into a tacit cadging for nourishment
he always made his very first speech on entering
the bar in this fashion. " Is Mr. So-and-so here
No? I'm sorry 'Ave a glass a-long o' me what-
won't yer well, good day," and off he went.
Chevalier immortalized this in his well-known song,
as he did also poor Balfour's remark " I've played
Touch-is-tone in Shakespeare's ' If-you-like it ? ' and
still I don't get hon " ; this in the " Crushed
Tragedian."

Further contributing to this upward tendency
was a short season at the Empire after the " Lady
of the Locket." It was in its compilation a cross
between the best conditions of the old Covent
Garden promenade concert and the now popular
variety theatre. Its first musical sponsors were
Luigi Arditi, Mapleson's Covent Garden maestro,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 241

and the present writer. Arditi conducted the first
portion of the entertainment, and I directed the
second or more " popular " as the programme had
it selection. We also did short " divertissements "
or " dances," and this season was about the last
appearance of Mdlle. Sara " Wiry Sal " who one
right objecting to the way I was conducting, took
off one of her high-heeled boots, in which she
always danced, and threw it at me in the orchestra.
" Wiry Sal," or Mdlle. Sara (the name was taken
from the then Sarah Bernhardt popular vogue), at
the time was at the Oxford Music-hall contem-
porary with two Hungarian big-boot dancers, Imre
and Bolossy Kiralfy, the same " White City " Imre
Kiralfy.

The word " Sarah " was on everybody's lips, and
it was thought to be a good " imitation " for the
variety houses a species of " fraud on the label,""
now, alas ! only too common.

This Empire season was under the direction
ostensibly of Messrs. De Chastelaine and Le
Vargues. The latter was the owner of the Hotel de
Paris, now the Queen's, next door, but the finance
was supplied by Messrs. Jarvis and George
Edwardes the latter, dear old friend, not then known
to Gaiety and Daly's fame and " Sara " was en-
gaged, being the wife of " Long Jack Jarvis," the
brother of the other partner. Messrs. Jarvis and
Edwardes had also for two or three weeks run
" The Lady of the Locket " when O'Hagan dropped
it. This partnership was really " The Edwardes
Menu Company " which ran the refreshment bars at
most of the theatres.

But no this combination of splendid song,
stories, good ballet and good music, did not then
catch on, and the further history of the Empire
was more or less " wrapt in mystery," questionable
finance and doubt till the Augustus Harris-George
Edwardes Empire regime, the latter by this time
also at the Gaiety; the rest is known. Except for
one week in the Ormiston Chant business, the house
has never closed. But in the meantime, Mr. D.
Nicols, the proprietor of the Cafe Royal, who then



242 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

owned the freehold, and whose estate is still in
possession, tried a theatrical flutter or two, one of
which was a comic operatic spectacle "The Palace
<of Pearl." Somebody hoodwinked the French
restaurateur into the belief that the way to soothe
the Press was to " feed the brutes," so, anticipating
.a dual advertisement for his theatre and his
restaurant, he sent out with all his first-night Press
tickets also an invitation for dinner at the Cafe
Royal at 6.30. And then, as Pepys says, "on to
the Empire." But at this period London journalists
Tiad not yet recovered from an old taunt about their
being easily bought with " chicken and cham-
pagne " and poor old Nicols' " soixante converts "
stood alone at the Cafe Royal at 6.30 untouched,
uneaten, unrecorded, and his Empire production
simply ran a few unsuccessful weeks and petered
out.

The Harris-Edwardes Empire regime ended in
Augustus Harris going out and there always was
a little antagonistic rivalry between " Gus " and
George and for years he really felt that he made
an error in this secession and was not easy till he
.started the Palace Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue.

" Gus," shortly before his death, entered the
musical comedy world, and this George Edwardes
tilted at good-humouredly. Producing a musical
play at Wolverhampton, called " The Telephone
Girl," Gxis wired :

" GEORGE EDWARDES,

" ' Telephone Girl ' enormous success can I
have the Gaiety Theatre?"

"To which the wily, Gaiety good fellow replied :

" DEAR GUS,

" Glad to hear that Wolverhampton likes
your musical comedy production."

This brings one to what was considered the fiist
move in the new music-hall the story of its failures
and its ultimate successes none so great as now,



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 243

when we hear that ^700 a week is being paid to
two stars. When the Palace Theatre got into its
stride, so to speak, it gave the lead-off to the
" variety palace " or " theatre of varieties."

The Palace was promoted by an American since
dead Albert Netter. Its opening was the most
tumultuous first-night I had ever experienced.
Augustus Harris had forgotten the fact that all the
seats had been booked for weeks, and when on a
cold December day, a thousand first-nighters, who
had waited from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., were told they
could only get " standing room," they forcibly took
possession of the booked accommodation and the
rest was chaos. Two ballets, " The Sleeper
Awakened," by " Richard Henry " and Albert
Renaud, and " London to Paris," by Cecil Raleigh
for the latter of which I wrote the music in ten
days were in the bill, but at 12.15 after midnight,
we had only got half through the second ballet, and
as it was Sunday morning, the curtain dropped
suddenly, and the band played " God save the
Queen," to clear out as moody and discontented a
house as ever hissed a play. Failure was written
everywhere, for weeks we trundled on, not knowing
one week where the next week's finance was to come
from, and at one moment 1 think at least thirty-
Ihree winding-up petitions stared us in the face.
At last came a public meeting a huge growling-for-
blood crowd of disappointed shareholders the
appearance on the stage of Sir A. Harris (since
dead), George Augustus Sala (also gone), Count
Max Hollander a kind and sympathetic gentleman
(he too has also joined the great majority) a loud
raucous oration from Mr. Wildey Wright, barrister
(dead), who had been " retained " as a barrister,
and " qualified " as a shareholder and an appeal
for five shillings a share for reconstruction by the
Drury Lane Napoleon, who said, " You know me,
you knew my father, do what I tell you," and the
position was saved. Notwithstanding this, Alfred
Beyfus, the Company's solicitor, who was brother-
in-law to Max Hollander, immediately sold two
thousand one-pound shares for fourpence each, and



244 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

we all went off to Paris to discuss a new ballet
called " The Race for Life," by Cecil Raleigh,
Augustus Harris, and James M. Glover. This
scheme was never carried through as a ballet, for
in the meantime the " Tableaux Vivants " had
arrived at the Palace, and Harris and Raleigh with
Heniy Hamilton turned the ballet into one of their
most successful plays, " The Derby Winner."

In Paris, where we all voyaged to consider the
future, during this period, we were a merry throng
Augustus Harris, Max Hollander, Ernest Polden,
Alfred Beyfus, and Eugene Cremetti. In all our
Shaftesbury trouble, Cremetti was the one optimist.
He was not a director -then, but as the partner in
Hollander and Cremetti he was deeply concerned,
financially. He had one saying in French, " Mon
cher ami, il faut trouver un clou " and he was
right. The " clou " was found. But when Beyfus
was selling at fourpence a share, Eugene was buy-
ing them at three-and-sixpence, and I believe he is
the largest shareholder now. The " Tableaux " were
the last hope. Not one of the directors was present
at the dress rehearsal, which I conducted my last
appearance at the Palace so that they were all natur-
ally enough anxiously awaiting me in the courtyard
of the Grand Hotel to hear what Cremetti called the
" dernieres nouvelles. " As I got out of the cab
and shook a hasty hand-shake with Sir Arthur
Sullivan, then in Paris Augustus Harris and the
entire Board pounced down on me for my verdict.
" Well," I said, " the Palace is either made on
Tuesday morning or you are all in the dock at Bow
Street, under Lord Campbell's Act, for publishing
indecent pictures." I never saw a more crestfallen
crowd of theatrical and financial magnates in the
world for in addition to this there was the fact
that the Licensing Sessions for the London County
Council was to open on the Monday the same day
as the dtbut of the " Tableaux Vivants " and the
Palace would not be in the licensing list till the
following Thursday thus giving time for any
Ormiston Chant agitation that might arise. How-
ever, Charles Morton had been to Clement Scott



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 245

asked him to give him, his old friend, " a leg
up," and two hours after the " Daily Telegraph "
came out the next morning the box-office was
besieged, and the Palace has never looked back
since.

The night that the success of the theatre was
made by the " Tableaux Vivants " we all dined in
Paris at the Cafe de Paris, and later on supped in
Harris' private suite at' the Grand. Argument ran
high. Harris said he would not have anything
further to do with the " unlucky hole," and offered
to sell his bundle of shares to Crernetti. At this
lime the shares were officially quoted at ninepence,
and Harris, at 3 a.m. in my presence in his room,
accepted Cremetti's offer to be bought out at three-
and-six to the extent of some thousands.

Now all this bargaining was done in a volume of
high words, and when Cremetti left the room, a
hand tapped on the adjoining door and a voice cried,
" Dites done, Monsieur! A cette heure jaut coucher
c'est trois heurs du matin."

" One minute," said Harris. " Who is this im-
pertinent chap? Mon cher ami," continued Harris,
" a qui est cette maison cette hotel je suis chez
moi et je ferais tons que je vent."

To this the Frenchman replied more annoy ingly,
and to this Harris made some remark that the
interruption was " mat eleve." Crash ! What a
row! "I thought that would rile him," said
" Druriolanus "and it did.

I never heard such a noise in my life a jump
out of bed a man crying in French, " I shall send
my seconds to you in the morning! " Harris
stating that he had to be in England the other
asserting, " Mais non, 'vous ne partez pas, c'est une
affaire d'honneur " a long silence, then finally the
voice, " Alors je m'en vais vous donner un coup de
pistolet! " I rushed out in the corridor to find an
enraged Frenchman running up and down with a
loaded pistol, wanting to shoot somebody. Honestly
speaking I really would have liked to do an English
journalistic coup, " Attempted assassination of Sir
Augustus Harris in a Paris Hotel," " Jimmy Glover



246 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

to the rescue," etc. It would have read splendidly,
1 thought. 1 admit, however, that the glittering
shining pistol, the enraged Frenchman, the excited
corridor full of enraged sleepers just wakened up
had a most soothing effect on my journalistic
ambition.

But peace beautiful peace soon reigned, and in
the morning the disturbed one made a formal com-
plaint. All the evening we had been arguing with
Beyfus, and now it appeared we had been fighting
with Dreyfus that was the name of the sleeper
awakened by our discussion of Palace Theatre
finance. He was a provincial corn merchant, who
had used the hotel for years, and known to be of
an excitable choleric nature.

One of the first secessions from the theatre to the
halls was the appearance at the Empire of the late
Amy Roselle. This gave vent to an immense
amount of controversy, but the thin edge of the
wedge once in, the rest soon followed. " I want to
see your father," said the new curate to the ex-
convict's boy. " He's out, and he don't want no
sky-pilots spying round," was the impudent reply.
" Ah me ! at his old games again ! I want your
father's body to get into heaven at present he's
only got in his head and shoulders." " Garn ! "
replied the boy, " that's all right. I never knew
any crib father cracked that if he once got his head
and shoulders in, his body wasn't sure to follow
very soon."

So it was about this time the stage got its head
and shoulders in, and now we have the double
licence, and soon the music-hall will be a thing of
the past in its old form. The best of the old
regime remains, but thetre are no Jenny Hills,
Fannie Leslies, Bessie Bell woods, Nelly Powers, or
their male prototypes, and so the tabloid drama,
opera, etc., fills the bill, fills the house, and fills
the shareholders' pockets.

In looking for the improvement in the music-hall,
it is useful to note that the ballad and " comique "
literature has made no advancement. It is in
Tottenham Court Road upholstery and the modern



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 247

craze for luxury that the new improvement has
arisen, and one by one huge " Palaces " and
" Empires " grow up, which out-do each other in
splendour, but Dan Lenos, Marie Lloyds, and
Albert Chevaliers do not appear with rallombrosian
thickness, and so one is inclined to the belief that
the drama will have everything its own way, and
that the ancient music-hall will soon be a rare
curiosity. The picture theatre, of course, has to
be reckoned with in the movement, but entirely
through the absence of talent of its own particular
genr? the county is over-music-hailed in bricks and
under-supplied in brains, and is now lapping over
the theatre, to the latter's disadvantage, and in the
end we find that in many cases theatre-land is over-
done.

Thei'e is, however, hope that the new order of
things bids for a better class of literature in the
variety world. A few remaining examples of the
red-nosed comedian and his equally offensive
associates may exist, but it is encouraging to know
that all that is good and clean appeals to the multi-
tude, and we may yet further improve on even the
present remarkable " levelling up " in our daily
amusements.

The humorous part of this movement is that any
opposition to any improvement in the lighter
amusements has always been met by the " light-
toned " and "elect" with opposition ill-natured,
ignorant, and bigoted. I myself " invented " or
permanently revived the music-hall " Selection by
the Band" of good music at the Palace; the
Alhambra and the Empire followed suit, the Tivoli
and others joining in the procession where works of
good masters are now invariably the order of the
night.

In pantomime I have for twenty years tried to
raise the level of the music. Good music for 1he
people all the time never dull, but always pood.
Two years ago, however, the real crux came. I
did not want to give too much music-hall jingle to
the masses besides, they had, in the years of
Wagner, Beethoven, Gounod, and other maestri,



248 JIMMY GLOVKK HIS BOOK

been educated to expect always a " disclosure " from
me. I gave it to them. Tchaikovsky's " Pathetic,"
played by a band of fifty-two, and twelve
harps.

But nc - good young academic person protested
where do you think? in "The Times." And a
lengthy discussion was the result. But I soon
" made reply " and showed how I might have easily
adopted another metier and used for my purposes
the melodic accompaniments of such music-hall
literature as :

" Come where the booze is cheaper,
Come where the pots hold more,
Come where the boss is a bit of a joss,
Come to the pub next door."

Of the beautiful waltz refrain of :

" Beer, beer, glorious beer,
Fill yourself right up to here."

Or perhaps the enervating lilt of :

" Stop your tickling, Jock."
And again :

"A little bit off the top."

For these were at my hands as the popular songs of
the people.

Most of my experiences of these amusements and
other matters of public interest came to me what
time I was musical and dramatic critic for the
" Sun " and the " Weekly Sun " for five or six
years ; when I acted in a like capacity for the
"Evening News"; also the "Daily Mail," which
had me on its staff down to 1910, when I had
the honour of writing a series of signed articles
for the " Daily Telegraph," some small quotation
of which I have ventured to import ; but, of course,
for nineteen years my personality at Drury Lane
has been the one thing which has justified my
daring to write this book.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 249

And it is really curious how you come to
experience so many strange emotions, hob-nob with
so much " flotsam and jetsam," and generally pick
up such a wide knowledge of the world's art, crime,
and Bohemianism.

It was in this way that I had a sort of " first
pull " on the great Liverpool Bank frauds, a
" scoop " of which I could not really make suffi-
cient use. The facts arose as near as possible as
follows :

A bank clerk named Goudie in a Liverpool house
had charge of the ledgers from A to H. All cheques
drawn on these accounts come to him. He starts
forging and spending large sums of money, and is
met in a train from Newmarket by one or two of
the " bhoys," i.e. race-course questionables. They
then divining that a forty-shillings-a-week bank
clerk must have some exceptional means of backing
horses in large amounts, devise a scheme for him,
which ultimately gives him ten years' penal servi-
tude and a like sentence to a well-known pugilist.
But before all this justice comes about, Mr. Hudson,
the soap-maker, on whose account the operations
were made, had lost many thousand pounds. It is
strange, but this crime was public property for
many months before the truth, as Lord Justice
Matthew said once, did " out, even in an affidavit."
It was offered to me, and to several other journalists
who feared to touch it but one incident happened
which led to publicity of much use in the discovery
of the plot. I was in the waiting-room of a West-
end toilet saloon one night with an Irish-American
chevalier d'industrie one of the very best of the

brigade, and to him spoke a racing tout named S .

" I say, guv'nor, I've often given yer a good tip or
two now I'm stoney (financially) broke : lend us
a fiver for the week-end. I've had a bad time, -and
there's the wife and two children without any
Sunday dinner." My Hibernian friend, always
generous to a fault, passed over the fiver and said,
" Jimmie, I have often made a bit out of his tips,
and I hadn't the heart to refuse." Some two or
three months passed. We the benefactor and the



250 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

present writer were sitting in the Cafe Royal
about aperitif time. Suddenly there burst in
the before-mentioned borrower, bedizened with dia-
monds and in the pink of luxury. " Good evening,
gents ! " Noticing my friend, his former benefactor,
" Hello! old sport, I'm awfully glad to meet you!
Will you and yer friend pack your throats (i.e. eat)
with me? " Now, this was out of the question, as
it would not have been worth our while to have
been consciously seen in this gentleman's company.
Apologies followed we had " another friend com-
ing," etc., with whom " we were going to dine,"

and so on and so to the inner room M and I

disappeared to wait for the apocryphal host, who,
of course, never came. In the middle of our dinner
the " bhoy " came in, noticed our solitude, sat
down, and taking out a bundle of bank-notes, threw
one on the table. " There y'are, guv'nor, that's
what I owe you. Good night ! " and out he walked.
M opened the note and found, to Ijis astonish-
ment, not a five-pound note, but a fifty-pound one.
For a moment he .stared, then, as if suddenly
achieving an inspiration, asked me to follow him
and rushed out to the outer room, where the " tout "
was still wineing with a selection of his own
"friends," and burst out, "Here! you've made a
mistake. I only lent you a fiver : this is fifty ! "
" Never you mind," promptly retorted the other,
" you refused to dine with me, and that's to
show you how I pay people back who do me a
good turn."

This sort of criminal extravagance led to the dis-
covery of the whole plot. The various methods
employed to hide the " swag," i.e. money, being
diverse and curious even to a well-known music-
hall manager (since deceased) being induced to fill
his office safe with bundles of notes to the tune of
thousands of pounds ; a payment through the bank
might have led to quicker detection.

Leaving a West-end music-hall one night several
of us were invited by a well-known Bohemian to
dinner at a popular restaurant. We sat down to as
sumptuous a menu as one could have wished, and



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 251

had just finished the soup when an awkward hiatus
occurred. Our host was called on by the proprietor,
and an angry dialogue took place. " You owe me a
bill here of old standing twenty pounds," angrily
shouted the Boniface; "and unless I receive some-
thing now, immediately, on account, not another
morsel will you or your guests receive here to-
night."

Protest was useless the proprietor was adamant
but to our room quickly returned our host and
candidty explained the situation. All offers to lend
the necessaiy were of no avail. " Certainly not
all follow me," so we filed out, ascended the Hay-
market, to vScott's, and, on the instructions of our
host, each purchased a lobster, a kipper, some
dried haddocks, and other uncooked fish. Back
to the still waiting, unused converts we wended
our way, took our seats as before, rang for the
manager and ordered him to have the succulent
'but, by this time, strong-smelling fish " cooked
immediately."

It transpired that this hotel had originally existed
as an inn, and only possessed an innkeeper's
licence, and that in requiring this food to be cooked
we were within the strict terms of the law. But
poor old Pentecost, once of Epitaux's and the Cafe
d'Europe everybody remembers him in the Hay-
marketfell in with the joke, and in the end he
served the dinner and, like the good sportsman he
was, stood us the wine.

In a book of this description, where anecdote,
experience, opinion, and recitation all jostle each
other, it is hard to know under what heading the
smaller humours of life are to be placed, and there-
fore I had determined to call this particular chapter
" Olla Podrida." If I were in France " le panier de
salade " would be better. Everybody knows the
honest French house-wife's "vade mecum the string
bag called the " panier de salade " in their French
slang used to describe that very necessary official
vehicle, known in this country as " The Black
Maria."

Passing through an environ of Cork County one



252 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

day I was amused to see an inscription across some
feudal gates which attracted my attention for the
moment, but of which I took no notice till I was
told its full story and sequel. It appears that some
one had inscribed the following doggerel as a kind
of Orange insult to the local Romans :



" A Greek, Jew, Turk, or Atheist
May enter here, but not a Papist ; "



underneath which a Roman Catholic local travelling
sign-writer had painted :



"Whoever wrote this did it well,
The same is writ on the Gates of Hell,"



which, after everything is said and done, is
not quite the best translation over Dante's
" Inferno."

And talking of Dante's " Inferno " suggests again
Gounod's " Faust," where Mephistopheles in the
last act the Apotheosis scene descends amidst
much red fire to Hades. At Belfast once the
descending-trap stuck. Mr. Mephistopheles was in
addition slightly given to embonpoint, and the
" Devil " remained a stationaiy problem for the
stage manager to settle, when a voice from the
gallery shouted out, " Hooro, bhoys, Hell's
full ! "

But poor Federici the original Pirate King in
Gilbert and Sullivan's " Pirates of Penzance " at
Paignton actually died going down the trap with
the red fire burning round him, during a perform-
ance of " Faust " in Australia.

The Richard Straus school of music, which has
had its ephemeral promenades in Queen's Hall and
Covent Garden, has evolved just the same sort of
ribald criticism in some quarters which greeted
Richard Wagner when J. W. Davidson a rabid
anfi-Wagnerite published the following " Direc-



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 253

tion for Composing a Wagner Overture," in " The
Musical World " :

"A sharp where you'd expect a natural;

A natural where you'd expect a sharp ;
No rule observe but the exceptional ;

And then (first happy thought!) bring in a

HARP!

" No bar a sequence to the bar behind ;

No bar a prelude to the next that comes ;
Which follows which you really need not mind ;
But (second happy thought!) bring in your

DRUMS !

"For harmonies, let wildest discords pass;
Let kev be blent with key, in hideous hash ;
Then (for last happy thought !) bring in your

BRASS !

* " And clang, clash, clatter clatter, clang, and
clash ! "

This, I think, if my memory serves me right, was
written after a night during the Neuman Season at
Her Majesty's, when the affairs of the late Marquis
de Caux the first husband of Adelina Patti
excited a great deal of attention, and the same
organ burst into verse in dealing with the subject :



A CAUX CLBRE

<: Adelina was handsome, and sung

In a way that enchanted the folks ;
She was talented, thoughtless, and young,
And she married the Marquis de Caux.

" Her cash was his principal care

His conduct her feelings oft shocks
Adelina was urged to despair

By the acts of the Marquis de Caux.

" A tenor, whose tenor of life

Wasn't even, by numerous chalks,
Was the cause of additional strife
'Twixt the songstress and Mister de Caux.



254 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

" He paid her attention quite marked,

Whereupon came a general row ;

From Russia in haste they embarked

For Paris, the Marquis de Caux.



" They brought up the matter in court,

And the way that it ended you know-
Dissolution was granted as sought,
Good-bye to the Marquis de Caux.



EXPLANATION

" Of such of my readers as lack

Apprehension of recondite jokes,
And wish things in plain white and black,
I would ask, How do you pronounce ' Caux ' ? "

A good many stories are told of Nicolini Patti's
second husband. He was generally credited with,
a reputation for not being a spendthrift this
" Scawtch " cautiousness having many side-
humours. Harris used to tell me a good story. The
Knight of Drury Lane liked a good rich wine at
dinner, and on one of his visits chez Ics Nicolinis
at the Chateau de Craig-y-Nos, there was a large
dinner- party. Harris sat next to Nicolini, who
passed him the claret decanter. " Chambertin of
the very best," said the tenor, " but for goodness'
sake don't pass it down! " " Why? " said Harris.
" Oh, all the other fellows are drinking ordinaire
at i as. a dozen."

Watching the procession of peers to the House
of Lords 'via the stage-doors of the Musical Comedy
Theatres, one is astonished at the number of foot-
light favourites or otherwise, who have ta-ra-ra-d
and tiara-d themselves to fame quite justifiably I
admit. The blue-blood-must-join-blue-blood theory
of course is long since dead, and, after all, many
of the " sock and buskin " peeresses are above the
average intelligence of the " Lady of Society "
eligible.

The list is far from complete, but it may for all



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 255

purposes commence with the Duke of Cambridge
and Miss Fairbrother. Then on to

1882. Miss Leamar to the Hon. Mr. Buncombe-

(son of the Earl of Feversham) .
1885. Miss Edith Brandon (then at the Empire

Theatre) to the Earl of Berkeley.
1889. Miss Dolly Tester (a baker's daughter at

Brighton, in . the ballet at the local

theatre under Mrs. Nye Chart) to the

Marquis of Ailesbury.
1889. Belle Bilton (daughter of an Aldershot

Canteen Sergeant) and the fifth Earl of

Clancarty.

1892. Connie Gilchrist and the seventh Earl of

Orkney.

1893. Lidiana Maichle (known in Drury Lane-

Dramas as Madame Miska) and the third
* Baron Haldon.

1901. Rosie Boote and the fourth Marquis of
Headfort.

1905. Anna Robinson and the fifth Earl of

Rosslyn.

1906. Eva Carrington and the twenty-fifth Baron

de Clifford.

1906. Stella Berridge and the Earl of Clonmel.

1906. Frances Donnelly and the fifth Baron Ash-
burton.

1906. Camille Clifford and the Hon. Henry Bruce,,

eldest son of Lord Aberdare.

1907. Denise Orme and the Hon. Yarde-Buller,

now Lord Churston.

1908. Sylvia Storey (daughter of Fred Storey,

actor, dancer, and scene-painter) and the
seventh Earl Poulett, who had to wrestle
his title from a presumptive organ-
grinder.

1911. Zena Dare (daughter of Mr. Justice Big-
ham's Clerk) and the Hon. R. Brett, son.
of Lord Esher.
Delia Sinclair and Sir Charles Huntingdon.

Of course, in these days, when theatrical knights



256 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

are plentiful, " ladies " by coiirtesy are to be
officially found among many actresses, but the
list I give shows how far-reaching has been the
social leavening since the days of old, when to
" marry an actress " was considered to be the arrival
at the lowest form of social mesalliance.

In fact, as I write, one of the only fears at an,
extravagant increase in the personnel of the House
of Lords is that Mr. Geo. Edwardes would have
seriously to increase his Gaiety Chorus to cope with
the demand.



CHAPTER THE LAST

Drury Lane The 1881 "Command" at Abergeldie
"Money" Command in 1911 Why it was selected
History of Drury Lane Theatre William Davenant
(1639) to Arthur Collins (191 1) Plays produced from
Augustus Harris to Arthur Collins Benefits The
" Command " performance Official cast, etc. His
Majesty's letters of thanks Mr Collins' account of the
evening -The King and the R.A.'s pictures "A pleas-
ant surprise" The German Emperor's song: "Wake
up, England " Possibility of strained relations
Various comments.

FOR reasons before explained, all references to
Drury Lane Theatre in this book are merely
episodical. Its great history must be left to a later
period, whoever its Boswell may be. But certain
topical references must be elaborated, and the 1911
epoch-making " Command " performance is a peg
on which to hang many details of great interest.

A " Command " performance had not taken place
in England since '58 or '59, and after the death of
the Prince Consort in 1861, until Her Late Majesty,
Queen Victoria, " commanded " Edgar Bruce's
company, then in Scotland, to play Sir F. C.
Burnand's " The Colonel " at Abergeldie Castle on
Tuesday, October 4th, iSSi. This unique occasion
arose through the kind offices of the late King
Edward. The cast included Edgar Bruce, C. W.
Garthorne, Miss Glover, Miss Cissy Graham, etc.
This fact was lost sight of in the recent plethora i>!
historical detail written round the Drury Lane 1911
" Money " representation. Many reasons have been
given as to why King George selected " Money' 1 ;
but in so doing he must have had many an anxious
1 257



258 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

thought, apart from the fact that his Royal Grand-
mother, Queen Victoria, " commanded " " Money "
on January i2th, 1854, at Windsor, by the Charles
Keans from Drury Lane. Had he chosen a modem
play, the Pineroites, Shavians, the Summerset-
Maughams, and the various author factions would
have all aroused a wail of jealousy too insuperable
to be comfortable. " Money " is not a bad play of
its kind the King wanted it, got it, and stated that
he liked it, and it has this one particular advan-
tage ; that most of all the theatrical somebodies, who
were only nobodies in the 'Eighties, have at various
times played the same parts for some charitable
purpose other than that for which they enacted on
May lyth, 1911, so to combine for a " Command "
performance on the same lines of brotherly love
that existed for a mere " Actor's Benefit " was quite
an easy matter. One of the dramatis personce sug-
gested that the play should be advertised as
" Money " or " When Knights were Bold," the cast
including as it did Sir Squire Bancroft, Sir Charles
Wyndham and Sir John Hare.

The history of Drury Lane from 1617 to 1911 is
chronologically interesting. As a mural record, the
following is an exact copy now adorning the walls
of Drury Lane Theatre. Great names adorn this
list ; Christopher Wren, Lord Byron, Colly Gibber,
Kemble, David Garrick, down to Chatterton (who
is said, erroneous^, to have invented the " Shake-
speare spelt ruin " maxim it was really Boucicault
who wrote it), Edmund Falconer, dramatist, whose
" Peep o' Day Boys " will ever live, on to Augustus
Harris and Arthur Collins, whose career is now so
honourably crowned by his monarch's patronage.
All other published and recorded references to Drury
Lane have been merely fragmentary, or collections
of actors' experiences which have very small
interest outside the various theatrical coteries con-
cerned. Therefore, I hope that this list will prove
useful to those who from time to time may wish to
make reference to these pages when thinking of
what has always been and always will be " The
National Theatre."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 259

THE THEATRE ROYAL
DRURY LANE

" WILLIAM DAVENANT (1639) TO ARTHUR COLLINS
(1911).

Royal Patent granted to William Davenant

by Charles 1 1639

Royal Patent granted to William Davenant

by Charles II 1660

Sir Thomas Killigrew and Sir William

Davenant ....... 1662

Sir Thomas Killigrew .... 1663-1680

(Rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren)
C. Davenant and Alex. Daveuant . . . 1682
Alex. Davenant ....... 1687

Richard Langlej^, Sir Thomas Skipworth,

Wilks, Colley Cibber, and Estcourt . 1703-1709
Bdrton Booth, Cibber, and Dogget . . . 1713

Sir Richard Steele 1715

Crabbe, Wilks, and Booth .... 1732

Laurence Lacy 1744

David Garrick and Lacy ..... 1747

(Reconstructed Robert Adams, Architect)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan .... 1776

(Rebuilt Holland, Architect)

John Philip Kemble, Manager 1788-1796, 1800-1802

(Fourth rebuilt Holland and Ben Wyatt,

Architects)

COMMITTEE OF RENTERS

Lord Byron, Chairman

S. J. Arnold, Manager .... 1812
Robert William Elliston . . 1819-1826
Stephen Price .... 1827-1830

Alex. Lee 1831-1832

Alf Bunn 1835-^41

E. T. Smith 1852

Edmund Falconer ..... 1862
Falconer and F. B. Chatterton . . 1863



260 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

F. B. Chatterton .... 1867-1879
Sir Augustus Harris . . . 1879-1896
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Ltd.

(Arthur Collins) .... 1896

Having shown the " managerial " history of the
Lane, I will now give a list of its productions from
the days of Augustus Harris to the present regime.
The Renters were impossible people, and Harris
was well rid of them in the 'Nineties, when their
lease ended, and he was enabled to deal direct with
the Duke of Bedford. The Renters were an Early
Victorian example of debenture holders that held
the lease and claimed possession nightly of a huge
number of seats, had their own box-office keeper
in attendance to admit and register them, and
hampered the lease with dozens of impossible con-
ditions, one of which was that the lessee could
never remove any "scenery from the theatre even
his own property after it had been brought in. In
the end their lease died out and their reign of terror
came to an end but not before Harris had given
a term of hard labour to one of their " honoured
brigade " who patronized the " Robinson Crusoe "
pantomime season by using his own " Renter's
stall " to go in with every night, and using some-
body else's top coat to go out with. He used the
same seat always, but used up six top coats before
he was discovered. I only mention this unpleasant
detail to show the calibre of some of the holders of
this " script."

This brings us to a consideration of the drama
output of the present building, which is (with
various rebuildings) one hundred years old this
year. The last two managements have established
its records, and for the first time I will publish its
repertoire, commencing with the Augustus Harris
regime.

AUGUSTUS HARRIS MANAGEMENT

George Rignold's Season.

1879. " Henry V." (George Rignold), Shakespeare,
Novr. ist; "Blue Beard" (Pantomime),



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 261

Augustus Harris' first, Bros. Grimm, E. L.
Blanchard, Deer. 26th.

1880. " La Fille de Madame Angot," Ch. Lecocq,
Mar. 2Qth; "Lady Audley's Secret,' 1 R.
Roberts, Mar. 29th.

Miss Marie Litton's Season.

1880. "As You Like It," Shakespeare, May i3th;

" The World," Merritt, Pettitt and A.
Harris, July aist; " Mother Goose " (Panto-
mime), E. L. Blanchard, Deer. 27th.

1881. "The World " (Revival), Merritt, Pettitt, and

A. Harris, Mar. i4th, preceded by " The
Stores," Bucalossi, Rose and A. Harris.

John M'Culloiigh's Season.

iSSi. " Virginus," Sheridan Knowles, April 25th ;
"Othello," Shakespeare, May I4th ; Season
of the Ducal Court Company of Saxe-
Meiningen, May 3oth ; " Youth," P. Merritt
and A. Harris, Aug. 6th; "Robinson
Crusoe" (Pantomime), E. L. Blanchard,
Deer. 26th.

Franke and Pollini's German Opera Season.

1882. "Lohengrin," Wagner, May iSth ; "Die

Fliegende Hollander," Wagner, May 2oth ;
" Tannhauser," Wagner, May 23rd;
" Fidelio," Beethoven, May 24th; "Die
Meistersingers," Wagner, May 3oth ;
" Euryanthe," Weber, June i4th ; "Tristan
and Isolde," Wagner, June 2oth.

Madame Ristori's Season

1882. " Macbeth," Shakespeare, July 3rd ; " Eliza-
beth," Giacometti, July i4th ; "Pluck," H.
Pettitt and A. Harris, Aug. 5th ; " Sindbad "
(Pantomime), E. L. Blanchard, Deer. 26th.



262 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

The Carl Rosa English Opera Season.

1883. " Esmeralda," Goring Thomas, Mar. 26th;

" Fidelio," Beethoven, Mar. 29th; "The
Bohemian Girl," Balfe, Mar. 3ist; " Trova-
tore," Verdi, April 3rd; " Maritana,"
Wallace, April yth ; " Colomba," Mackenzie,
April 9th; "Faust," Gounod, April loth ;
" Mignon," Ambroise Thomas, April I4th ;
" Youth " (Revival), P. Merritt and A.
Harris, April 28th; "Freedom," G. F.
Rowe and A. Harris, Aug. 4th; "The
Opera Cloak," L. D. Powles and A. Harris,
Septr. 8th; "A Sailor and his Lass," R.
Buchanan and A. Harris, Octr. i5th ;
" Cinderella " (Pantomime), E. L. Blan-
chard, Deer. 26th.

Carl Rosa Opera Season.

1884. " Carmen," Bizet, April i5th; "Lucia di

Lammermoor," Donizetti, April igth ;
" Canterbury Pilgrims," Villiers Stanford,
April 28th; " Haverley's Minstrels," May
3ist; "The World," (Second Revival),
Merritt, Pettitt and A. Harris, Septr. nth;
" Dick Whittington " (Pantomime), E. L.
Blanchard, Deer. 26th.

1885. " Nadeshda," Goring Thomas, April i6th ;

"Manon," Massenet, May yth; "Figaro,"
Mozart, May 3oth ; " A True Story," Eliot
Galer, June i5th ; "It's Never Too Late to
Mend," Charles Reade, July 27th ; " Human
Nature," H. Pettitt and A. Harris, Septr.
I2th; "Aladdin" (Pantomime), E. L.
Blanchard, Deer. 26th.

1886. "Human Nature," (Revival), Pettitt and A.

Harris, April 24th ; Carl Rosa Season, May
3ist; " Frivoli," Herve and W. Beatty
Kingston, June 29th; "A Run of Luck,"
Pettitt and A. Harris, Aug. 28th ; Slavian-
sky's Russian Choir (Matinees), July i3th
and July iyth ; " The Forty Thieves "
(Pantomime), E. L. Blanchard, Deer. 2yth.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 263

1887. Carl Rosa Opera Season, April 3oth ; Italian

Opera Season, June i3th; " Pleasure," Paul
Merritt and A. Harris, Septr. 3rd;
" Nitocris " (Matinee), Clo Graves, Novr.
2nd; "Puss in Boots" (Pantomime), E. L.
Blanchard. Deer. 26th.

1888. " A Run of Luck " (Revival), H. Pettitt and

A. Harris, March 3ist; " The Armada," H.
Hamilton and A. Harris, Septr. 22nd; " The
Babes in the Wood " (Pantomime, Dan
Leno's first season), E. L. Blanchard, Harry
Nicholls and A. Harris, Deer. 26th.

1889. " The Royal Oak," H. Hamilton and A.

Harris, Septr. 23rd; "Jack and the Bean-
stalk," (Pantomime), H. Nicholls and A.
Harris, Deer. 26th.

1890. Carl Rosa Opera Season, April 5th ; " Paul

Kauvar," Steele Mackay, May i2th;
" Million of Money," H. Pettitt and A.
Harris, Septr. 6th ;" Beauty and the Beast "
(Pantomime), W. Yardley and A. Harris,
Deer. 26th.

1891. " It's Never Too Late to Mend " (Revival),

Charles Reade, April nth ; " Formosa,"
(Revival), Dion Boucicault, May 26th;
" Drink " (Revival), Charles Reade, June
23rd; "A Sailor's Knot," Henry Pettitt,
Septr. 5th; " Humpty Dumpty " (Panto-
mime), H. Nicholls and A. Harris, Deer.
26th.

1892. German-Italian Opera (Extra to Covent

Garden Performances), June i3th; "The
Prodigal Daughter " (well-known racer,
" Voluptuary " used), H. Pettitt and A.
Harris, Septr. lyth; "Little Bo-Peep"
(Pantomime), Wilton Jones and A. Harris,
Deer. 26th.

1893. English Opera (Spring Season), April 3rd;

Comedie Franyaise Season, June 12th;
Grand Opera (Extra Performances by
Covent Garden Artistes), July I5th; "A
Life of Pleasure " (Music by Glover), H.
Pettitt and A. Harris, Septr. 2ist; " Robin-



264 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

son Crusoe " (Pantomime, Augustus Harris*
first great illness), H. Nicholls and A.
Harris, Deer. 26th.

1894. English Opera (Matinees from April 14th to

May isth), March 24th; " Gentleman Jack "
(James Corbett, Champion of the World)
and W. A. Brady, April 2ist; German
Opera (Extra Performance by Covent
Garden Artists), June iQth ; "The Derby
Winner" (Music by Glover), H. Hamilton,
C. Raleigh and A. Harris, Septr. i5th ;
" Dick Whittington " (Pantomime), C.
Raleigh, H. Hamilton, and A. Harris
(Music by Glover), Deer. 26th.

1895. English Opera (Spring Season), conducted by

Glover, April i3th ; Elenora Duse Season,
Conducted by Glover, June 3rd ; Saxe-
Coburg Ducal Company, June I7th ;
"Cheer, Boys, Cheer" (Henry Russell
present), C. Raleigh, A. Harris, and H.
Hamilton (Music by Glover) , Septr. igth ;
" Cinderella " (Pantomime, Motor Car first
used on the Stage to take Cinderella to
Ball), C. Raleigh, A. Harris and A. Sturgess
(Music by Glover), Deer. 26th.

1896. English Opera Season, Conducted by Glover,

April 4th; "Jo " (Jennie Lee), May isth.

Sir Augustus Harris died June 22nd.

" Duchess of Coolgardie " (John Coleman's
Season), Eustace Leigh and Cyril Clare,
Septr. igth ; " Kiss of Delilah," Novr. 27th;
" Aladdin " (Pantomime) (Management :
Executors of Sir A. Harris and Oscar
Barrett), A. Sturgess, Deer. 26th.

Arthur Collins' Management First Season.

1897. " White Heather," C. Raleigh and H.

Hamilton (Music by Glover), Septr. i6th ;
"Babes in the Wood" (Pantomime),
Arthur Sturgess and Arthur Collins (Music
by Glover), Deer. 27th.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 265

1898. " White Heather " (Revival), May I2th ; " The

Great Ruby," C. Raleigh and H. Hamilton
(Music by Glover), Septr. i5th ; " The Forty
Thieves " (Pantomime), Arthur Sturgess
and Arthur Collins (Music by Glover),
Deer. 26th.

1899. " Hearts are Trumps," Cecil Raleigh (Music

by Glover), Septr. i6th ; "Jack and the
Beanstalk " (Pantomime), Arthur Sturgess
and Arthur Collins (Music by Glover),
Deer. 26.

1900. " Marsac of Gascony," E. Vroom (Music by

Glover), April 2ist; " Price of Peace," Cecil
Raleigh (Music by Glover), Septr. 2oth ;
" Sleeping Beauty and the Beast " (Panto-
mime), J. Hickory Wood and Arthur
Collins (Music by Glover), Deer. 26th.

1901. " The Great Millionaire," Cecil Raleigh

(Music by Glover), Septr. igth ; "Blue
Beard " (Pantomime), J. Hickory Wood and
Arthur Collins (Music by Glover), Deer.
26th.

1902. " Ben Hur " by General Lew Wallace (Klaw

and Erlanger's Season), Dramatized by
William Young, April 3rd; "The Best of
Friends," Cecil Raleigh (Music by Glover),
Septr. iSth ; " Mother Goose " (Pantomime),
J. Hickory Wood and Arthur Collins (Music
by Glover), Deer. 26th.

1903. " Dante " by V. Sardou and H. Moreau

rendered into English by Laurence Irving
(Sir Henry Irving's season), Music by
Xavier Leroux, April 3oth ; " The Flood
Tide," Cecil Raleigh (Music by Glover),
Septr. 1 7th ; " Huriipty Dumpty " (Panto-
mime), J. Hickory Wood and Arthur Collins
(Music by Glover), Deer. 26th.

1904. Moody Manners Opera Season, May 2ist.

Theatre closed for Improvements No Autumn
Drama. Death of Herbert Campbell and Dan Leno.

" The White Cat " (Pantomime), J. Hickory



266 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Wood and Arthur Collins (Music by Glover),
Deer. 26th.

1905. Sir Henry Irving last season in London, April

29th; "The Prodigal Son," Hall Caine
(Music by Glover), Septr. 7th; "Cinder-
ella " (Pantomime Fragson's first appear-
ance), Sir F. C. Burnand, J. Hickory Wood,
and Arthur Collins (Music by Glover),
Deer. 26th.

1906. "The Bondsman," Hall Caine (Music by

Glover), Septr. 2oth ; " Sindbad," J. Hickory,
Wood and Arthur Collins (Music by Glover),
Deer. 26th.

1907. "The Last of His Race," Donald MacLaren,

May 1 8th; "The Sins of Society," Cecil
Raleigh and Henry Hamilton (Music by
Glover), Septr. i2th; "The Babes in the
Wood " (Pantomime), J. Hickory Wood and
Arthur Collins (Music by Glover), Deer.
26th.

Theatre closed for re-building on account of fire,
March 2$th.

1908. " The Marriages of Mayfair," Cecil Raleigh

and Henry Hamilton (Music by Glover),
Septr. 2ist; "Dick Whittington," J. H.
Wood and Arthur Collins, Deer. 26th.

1909. Castellauo Italian Opera Season, May 3ist

and June 28th; " The Whip," Cecil Raleigh
and Henry Hamilton (Music by Glover),
Septr. gth; "Aladdin" (Pantomime), Sir
Francis Burnand, Hickory Wood and
Arthur Collins (Music by Glover), Deer.
27th.

1910. "The Whip" (Revival), March 26th; "Jack

and the Beanstalk " (Pantomime) (Music by
Glover), Deer. 26th.

1911. " The Sins of Society " (Revival), March 3oth.

BENEFITS

G. Rignold's Benefit (" Black-Eyed Susan "),
1879, Deer. 5th and 6th ; Royal General Theatrical



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 267

Fund Benefit (Matinee), 1881, Feb. 28th; Charles
Harcourt Memorial Fund Benefit, 1881, May i8th ;
William Holland's Benefit (Matinee), 1881, Deer.
7th ; Benefit of Sam Hayes, 1882, May i4th ; R.G.T.F.
Benefit (Matinee), 1883, Mar. igth ; Actors' Benevo-
lent Fund (Matinee), 1884, May 29th ; R.G.T.F.
Benefit (Matinee), 1884, April 3rd; A.B.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1884, June igth ; Benefit to F. B. Chatter-
ton (Matinee), 1885, Mar. 4th; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1885, Mar. 26th; Benefit to Lady Julius
Benedict, whose husband wrote " The Lily of
Killarney " (Matinee), 1885, June 23rd; William
Creswick's Farewell, 1885, Octr. 29th ; Harry
Jackson's widow Benefit, 1885, Novr. 26th ; R.G.T.F.
Benefit (Matinee), 1886, Mar. 4th; Benefit to Lionel
Brough (Matinee), 1886, July 6th; Mr. and Mrs.
Edmund Russell's Matinee, The Harmony and
Expression of Motion, 1886, July 3ist; R.G.T.F.
Benefit (Matinee), 1887, April 2ist; Charles Warner's
fienefit (Matinee), 1888, June 7th; Mrs. Anna
Conover's Benefit (Matinee), 1888, June nth;
Exhibition of Armada and Elizabethan Relics (in
the Foyer), 1888, Octr. 4th; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1889, April iith; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1890, Mar. i7th ; Benefit to widow of E.
L. Blanchard, 1890, June 2nd; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1891, April 23rd ; Aged French Professor's
Benefit (Matinee), 1891, June 3oth ; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinee), 1892, Novr. 24th; Peterkin Opera Com-
pany (" Royalty ") Benefit (Matinee), 1893, Septr.
28th; "Sun " Miners' Benefit (Matinee), 1893, Octr.
i2th; R.G.T.F. Benefit (Matinee), 1893, Deer. 4th;
" Genoveva " Opera by Pupils of the Royal College
of Music, 1893, Deer. 6th; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinees), 1894, Novr. i5th ; 1895, Novr. 28th; 1896,
Novr. i2th; 1897, Novr. i8th ; Nellie Farren Benefit
(Matinee), 1898, Mar. i7th; R.G.T.F. Benefit
(Matinees), 1898, Novr. i7th ; 1899, Novr. 2ist; Boer
War Matinee (Princess Christian), 1900, May i^th;
Canadian Matinee (Ottawa Fire Disaster), 1900,
June igth; R.G.T.F. Benefit (Matinees), 1900, Novr.
27th; 1901, Novr. 2ist; 1902, Novr. 2oth; Actors'
Association Matinee (" Merchant of Venice "), Cast



268 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

included Sir Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, etc., etc.,
1903, July i^th; Ellen Terry Jubilee (Matinee), 1906,
June i2th; Lord Mayor's Cripples Fund (Matinee),
1907, Mar. 5th ; Davos Sanatorium Matinee, 1909,
May nth.

Following the legitimate season from March 3oth
we come to the i7th May, 1911, when His Majesty
the King, George V., " commanded " " Money "
by Lord Bulwer Lyttou. Here is the official pro-
gramme :

G. R.

DRURY LANE THEATRE ROYAL

Managing Director, Arthur Collins..



By the Gracious Command of

HIS MAJESTY THE KING

in Honour of the Visit of their Imperial Majesties

THE GERMAN EMPEROR AND THE GERMAN

EMPRESS



Wednesday Evening, May lyth, at Nine o'clock,
His Majesty's Servants will perform

MONEY

By Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton.
Under the direction of Mr. Arthur Collins.



The play produced by Sir Squire Bancroft.



Lord Glossmore . . . Mr. Fred Terry.
Sir John Vesey . . . Mr. John Hare.
Sir Frederick Blount . . Mr. Cyril Maude.
Captain Dudley Smooth . Sir Chas. Wyndham.
Mr. Graves . . . .Sir Herbert Tree.
Mr. Stout . . . .Sir Herbert Tree.
Alfred Evelyn . . . Mr. Geo. Alexander.
Mr. Sharp .... Mr. Laurence Irving.
An Old Member of the Club Mr. Alfred Bishop.



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 269

Sir John Vesey's Servant Mr. Lewis Waller.

Toke .... Mr. Edmund Maurice.

Mr. Flat . . . Mr. Chas. Hawtrey.

Mr. Green . . - Mr. Sydney Valentine.

Frantz .... Mr. Wheedon Grossiuith.

Tabouret . . . Mr. J. H. Barnes.

Grab .... Mr. James Fernandez.

MacFinch . . . Mr. Charles Rock.

MacStucco . . . Mr. Norman Forbes.

Crimson . . . Mr. Don Boucicault.

Patent .... Mr. Dennis Eadie.

Kite .... Mr. J. D. Beveridge.

The Old Club Servant . Mr. Edward Terry.

Lady Franklin . . Miss Winifred Emery.

Georgina Vesey . . Miss Alexandra Carlisle.

Clara Douglas . . Miss Irene Vanbrugh.

Club Members, Servants, Waiters : Messrs. Oscar
Adye, Henry Ainley, Marsh Allen, Allan Aynes-
worth, George Barrett, Murray Carson, Vincent
Clive, Frank,' Collins, W. Devereux, Kenneth
Douglas/ H. De Lange, Gerald du Maurier, H. V.
Esmond, George Graves, Lyn Harding, Rudge
Harding, Luigi Lablache, Robert Loraine, C. M.
Lowne, Norman McKinnell, Austin Melford,
Dawson Milward, Harry Nicholls, Robert Pateman,
Harry Paulton, Fred Penley, Arthur Playfair,
Arthur Poole, Frederick Ross, Howard Russell, C.
Aubrey Smith, C. W. Somerset, Sam Southern, E.
Lyall Swete, Herbert Warren.

Assistant Stage Managers, E. D'Auban and E. V.
Reynolds.

Musical Director, J. M. Glover.
Business Manager, Sidney Smith.

Doors open at 7.30. The audience is requested to
be seated at 8.30, as the curtain will rise at 9.
Ordinary evening dress to be worn in all reserved
parts of the theatre. Amphitheatre (unreserved) 53.



270 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

The result is best described in His Majesty's own
words I quote from the Royal record in the nest
day's papers Letter from Sir William Carrington,
the King's Privy Purse Secretary :

" Privy Purse Office,

" Buckingham Palace,

" May i8th, igu.
" DEAR MR. COLLINS,

" I have received the King's commands to
assure you on his behalf and on behalf of the
German Emperor, of the German Empress, and of
the Queen, that their Majesties sincerely congratu-
late you upon last night's triumph at the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane.

" His Majesty asks you kindly to convey his own
and their Majesties' warm thanks to Mr. Ernest
D'Auban, your stage-manager, and his assistants, to
your Secretary, Mr. R. H. Lindo, and those who are
with him, to Mr. James Glover and his fine
orchestra, to Mr. R. McCleery, your scenic artist
and his colleagues, and to one and all of your other
employees for the invaluable assistance they so
admirably and readily rendered.

" Their Majesties were much struck with the
beauty of the decorations of the theatre, which
formed a splendid setting worthy of the scene.
Perhaps you will be so good as to inform Messrs.
Maple and Co. to this effect.

" A hearty and loyal combination of art, of skill,
of experience, and of energy, brought about this
memorable representation of Lord Lytton's comedy
of ' Money,' a performance which, in the opinion
of the King, will ever stand out high and bright
in the long and honourable annals of the British
stage.

" I remain, dear Mr. Collins,
" Yours very truly,
" (Signed) WILLIAM CARRINGTON

"Arthur Collins, Esq.
" Theatre Royal,

" Drury Lane, W.C."



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 271

Could greater or more graceful testimony be paid
to any manager than this charming message from
tae King ? It was an occasion of interest, incident,
and national importance. A subsequent letter was
written to Mr. Sidney Smith, the business manager,
also thanking him in the name of the King.

The two Kings and their suite arrived at 9 o'clock
sharp, and the German Empress and Queen Mary
were presented with two bouquets by Mrs. Arthur
Collins, and it might be interesting to quote the
Drury Lane manager's own account of the evening.

" The Royal party then proceeded through the

* rotunda ' to the foot of the grand staircase, the
King remarking, ' What beautiful flowers ! What
lovely decorations ! ' As we reached the staircase,
Mrs. Collins, who was even more nervous than
myself, presented Queen Mary and the German
Empress with bouquets, Mr. Linclo, our Secretary,
assisting her. Then I led the party to their seats
in the Royal box, in which I placed electric bells
communicating with the stage, so that I could
signal to the orchestra to play the National Anthem
immediately on the arrival of the King and his
guests. During the interval, after the Club Scene,
His Majesty and the German Emperor proceeded to
the Grand Saloon, which had been converted into a
retiring-room, and there inspected the sketches
which had been made for the new act-drop. They
both did me the honour to express themselves as
being immensely interested in and struck by the
manner in which all the details had been so care-
fully prepared. After the curtain had finally fallen,
as the members of the Royal party were putting on
their overcoats and wraps, the Emperor observed,

* I understood " Money " was an old comedy, but
it certainly does not strike me as at all old. I have
never seen better acting.' The King and Queen
again congratulated me, the former mentioning that
the new act-drop had taken everybody completely
by surprise. ' There, your Majesty,' I replied, ' is
Mr. Seymour Lucas, who is responsible for the de-
sign.' The King at once turned and cordially shook



272 JIMMY GLOVER PUS BOOK

hands with the eminent R.A., complimenting him
on his work, and presenting him to the German
Emperor.

' ' At the carriage door there were more congratula-
tions and more haiid-shakings. In the most charm-
ing way possible, the Prince of Wales and Princess
Victoria Louise also expressed their high apprecia-
tion of the evening's entertainment."

By the time the Royal visitors had arrived ten
thousand and twenty-seven pounds worth of ticket
holders had been booked. And what a house ! A
huge glitter of diamonds of jewels of beauties !
The Rue de la Paix, Bond Street and Hatton Garden
let loose in brilliants ! Paquiii and Worth at their
best in costumes ! The entire Debrett and Burke in
peerage, finance, the Stock Exchange, painting
music and the higher drama ; all present to extend
a cheer to the Royal German Emperor over here
for the unveiling of the Queen Victoria memorial.
As the Royal Party entered " God Save the King "
the melody which serves as the National Anthem
for both nations, England and Germany rang
through the house, and all was quiet till a volcanic
burst of applause announced the discovery of the
new and very beautiful act-drop, from the design of
Seymour Lucas, R.A., which had been painted by
R. C. McCleery from original studies by Miss Kemp
Welch, the famous horse-painter, allegorically
treated in the Italian style. In the centre the
German Emperor and King George on horseback
were represented as meeting and saluting one an-
other. At the side of the Emperor stood Germania
and opposite the figure of Britannia, near H.M.
the King. Overhead floated Peace decorating the
two monarchs with laurel wreaths. The lower part
of this background represents an idealized view of
London in the distance, with St. Paul's in the centre.
In the foreground young girls were seen scattering
flowers of greeting in front of the Emperor on Ids
white steed. This was a triumph in itself, as the
King afterwards remarked, and " took him quite by
surprise." The evening was one huge success not



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 273

a single hitch, not a solitary defect. " Roses roses
all the way," as Robert Browning sings.

For my own part in this memorable ceremony, it
was purely administrative. There was no distinc-
tive music to be played in " Money," but I managed
to gain some individuality in the process. In the
first place I scored the German Emperor's own
" Song of Aegir," and as the newspapers had it the
next day : " The German Emperor seemed highly
pleased, and bowed twice to Mr. Glover and the
band." The Emperor has a nephew at school at
Bexhill, so I got the nephew and his tutor, Dr.
Blassiieck, to do me an English version.

But an amusing contretemps arose. It may be
remembered that when King George, as Prince of
Wales, returned from Australia some years ago, his
first words at a Guildhall Banquet, speaking in
defence of English commerce, were : " Wake up,
England! " and I had also heard that our "Sailor
King' " had a preference for nautical ditties, so I
arranged a special maritime selection, and called
it " Wake up, England." I really had no idea of
any topical application merely a sort of reminis-
cence, but in the arrangement of the programme,
which arose in the office away from serious thought,
it came out and was sent to the Press like this :

1. " Song of Aegir " H.I.M. The German Emperor

2. " Wake up, England " J. M. Glover

I admit the juxtaposition was unfortunate but
unforeseen, Morocco was not even then thought of,
so I quietly bowed to an avalanche of anonymous
letters, which the first newspaper publication of
the programme brought me, and changed the title
of the selection to " Songs of Britain." One of the
"anonymous" protests, however, was humorous,
so I will quote it in full :

" Are not the relations between England and
Germany sufficiently strained without their beingf
accentuated by your impertinent pantomime
humour? "



27^! JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

Shades of " The Skibbereen Eagle " and the Czar
of Russia. As for the performance itself, it had
many special and exceptional attributes, which I
will tabulate.

1. The early door people a boy scout and an
eighty-three year old first-nighter a Mrs. Davies
arrived at 10.30 a.m. the day previous thirty
hours in advance. This was the early door
" record." Up to this time it had been held by
the Nellie Farren Benefit; "waiters" who formed
their queue at 11.30 the night previous for a per-
formance which did not start till 1.30 p.m. the
following day.

2. It took four hundred policemen to keep the
crowd off, to watch the light-fingered gentry, and
.generally govern those whose business is outside
the theatre.

3. So many leading London actors took part, that
on the night in question three London theatres had
to close. The costumes (Early Victorian) for the
one night cost ^800, and each actor received a
present of his own outfit as a memento of the
occasion.

4. The added ages of those actors in the cast
proper came to 1544. This, without the Club
Scene volunteers.

5. Drury Lane Theatre had to be closed for three
nights to admit of the scheme of decoration being
carried out. His Majesty the King considerately
asked that every one should be paid for closed
nights, which was done.

6. The night receipts were the biggest on record
^10,027 ; of this a matter of 3000 odd profit was
sent to three of the Theatrical Charities.

7. Every name except the unreserved had been
submitted to Scotland Yard and Buckingham
Palace, before the first performance, so that with
the exception of the galleryites the police were in
touch with every person in the house.

8. Fifty detectives, fifty special firemen, and fifty
commissionaires permeated every corner of the
theatre, the first with a view to pickpockets, the
second to ensure safety from fire, and the third to



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 275

ensure efficient attendant administration. During
tie rehearsals the L.C.C. officials tried, with
lighted matches, to set fire to the hangings of the
Royal box and the band at the time was rehearsing
a selection called " Nero."

In the saloon used as a retiring-room by the
Royalties and guests, the original studies of the
figures on the act-drop were exhibited on eight
easels ; at the extreme end of the room being shown
King George, and facing him the Emperor, while
frames on other easels were filled by Britannia,
Germania, Peace, the horses, etc. The large
polished mahogany board on the wall, recording
the names of the previous managers and patent
holders of the National Theatre, which has been
reproduced in this chapter, was faced with a dupli-
cate tablet, giving the cast of " Money " at this
performance, with other particulars about all con-
cerned in the production, forming a very handsome
addition to the permanent decoration of the fine
room, in addition to being a very interesting record
for playgoers of the future.

For purposes of record only, I append the musical
programme of this wonderful night :

PROGRAMME OF MUSIC.

Under the Direction of Mr. James M. Glover

[Before Royalty arrived]
Selection " A Day in Naples " G. W. Byng

" The National Anthem "
Pie.ce " Songs of Britain " . J. M. Glover
Valse" The Chocolate Soldier "

Strauss

Selection" The Quaker Girl " Lionel Monckton
Two Pieces (a) " In the Shadows "

Herman Finck

(b) "Nero" . S. Coleridge-Taylor
" God Save the King."

Thus ended a great night. It had many points
of humour, of pride for those who organized its



276 JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK

success, and was the source of many a quip and
jape between the great actors who played the small
parts.

One growl only. On the day of the performance
many people besought the management to allow
them the courtesy of viewing the decorations. This
favour was granted, and favoured ones came, saw,
and started purloining from the Royal box the
valuable souvenirs already laid out for Royalty.
"Was ever such ingratitude ? Was ever such un-
justifiable theft.! Again, in the evening many
highly dressed Games and their cavaliers people
who had paid ten guineas for their stalls remained
after the departure and stripped each stall of its
posies part of the decorations which the manage-
ment were reserving for promised exhibition in
future performances. Another lady, with enough
diamonds visible to stock a Bond Street jeweller's,
went round the stairs, and in my presence collected
six of the souvenir programmes and hid them under
her cloak. We talk about the curio-hunting
American and his petty souvenir vandalisms, but
after this America takes a back seat. One more
incident in connection with the performance. I had
arranged to do a magazine page for an important
Daily on the morning of the iyth the central piece
to be the German Emperor's song, the rest scraps
of melodies written and composed by other Royalties
Henry VI., Henry VIII., Charles II., Marie
Antoinette, Louis XIII., and Princess Beatrice of
Battenberg. To make sure of copyright, I had a
wire sent to the German Emperor's publisher in
Berlin for permission. This they refused, and I
saw a dilemma. Nothing daunted, I said, " What's
the matter with the composer, H.I.M. Buckingham
Palace ? " and so off we wired and the consent came
tack, " With pleasure."

And now I think that this book of a life's olla
Podrida must finish. A record of the great
" Command " night at Drury Lane fittingly brings
it to an end. I have endeavoured to make it
interesting. " Reminiscences " are inclined to be
egotistical they are inclined to be dull in their



JIMMY GLOVER HIS BOOK 277

iteration and they are inclined to be too personal
and esoteric. For this reason I have carefully, here
and there, interspersed the various " on dits " or
quips with matters of general criticism, comment,
and opinions.



INDEX



Adams, 259

Adams, Sam., igi, 192

Ailesbury, Marquis, 255

Albani, Madame, iig

Albert, F., 236

Albery, Jas., 26

Alexander, 164

Alias,- C., 71

Alvary, M., 118, 133

Anson, G. W., 61

Arditi, L., 22, 24, 240, 241

Arnold, Chas., 184

Arnoldson, Sigrid, 125

Ascherberg, E., 66, 185,

i go

Ashburton, Lord, 255
Ashley, H., 177
Athlumney, Lord, 67
Audran, E., 53, 175, 173
Auguste, Madame, in
Avory, Sir H., 2ig, 220



B

Balf, 181
Balfour, A., 240
Bancroft, Squire, 258, 268
Bard, Wilkie, 212
Barnato, B., 220
Barnby, Sir J., 201, 204,

205

Barrett, O-, 144
Barrett, Wilson, gg, 227,

228, 22g

Barrington, Rutland, 179
Barrington, Sir E., 166



Barrington, Sir John, 30
Barry, Shiel, 65, 185, 238
Beaufort, Duke of, 75, 187
Bedford, Duke of, 135, 260
Beecham, T., 172, 200, 201
Belasco, D., 77
Bellwood, B., igo, 23g
Bendall, W., 186
Beresford, Lady, i6g
Berkeley, Earl, 255
Bernhardt, S., 241
Berridge, Stella, 255
Bettini, 22, 23
Bevignani, 170
Beyfus, A., 244, 246
Bernard, Charles, 237
Bigham, Justice, 221, 223,

255

Bignell, igi
Bilton, Belle, 112, 237, 238,

255

Bilton, Flo., 237, 238
Binstead, A. M., 31
Bispham, D., 202, 208
Bizet, 203

Blassneck, Dr., 273
Bode, M., 150, 151
Boosey, W., 185
Boote, Rosie, 255
Bottomley, H., 217
Boucicault, 2g, 181, 183,

258

Bourchier, A., 230, 234
Bowyer, F., 23g
Boyd, F. M., gg
Brabazon, Lord, 230
Bracy, H., 177
Brampton, Lord, 3g
Brandon, Edith, 255



279



280



INDEX



Breslin, 43

Brett, Hon. R., 255

Bridge, Sir John, 217

Bright, Jacob, QQ

Brookfield, Chas., 36, 137

Browne, Dr. Lennox, IQQ

Browning, Miss, 34

Brozel, P., 202

Bruce, E., 257

Bruce, Hon. Henry, 255

Buchanan, R., 88, 219

Burke, Peter, 40, 272

Burns, Georgina, 209

Bussy, F. M., 48

Butler, R., 216

Byng, G. W., 68, 72, 186

275

Byrne, 42, 43
Byron, H. J., 81
Byron, Lord, 258



Caine, Hall, 154, 164, 228
Calve, 118, IIQ, 124, 125
Cambridge, Duke of, 255
Cameron, V., 177
Campbell, H., 150, 151, 161
Campbell, Mrs. P., no,

I 12

Campobello, 22, in

Capoul, 203

Carl Rosa, 202, 203, 207,

2og, 210, 236, 262, 263
Carlvle, W., 226
Carrington, Eva, 255
Carrington, Sir W. 5 270
Carrodus, 123
Carte, D'Oyly, 27, 88, 91,

94, 179, 180, 195, 200
Carter, Hilton, 201, 205
Caruso, 88, 195.
Celli, Frank, 190, 206
Cellier, A., 89, QI, 92, 233
Cellini, 23, 209
Chambers, Sir T., 64
Chatterton, F. B., 129, 258
Chevalier, A., 191, 239, 247



Cheylesmore, Lord, 67
Chirm, S., 21 1
Christy, Mr., 237
Churchill, Lord Randolph,

1 10

Churston, Lord, 255
Gibber, C., 258
Clancarty, Earl, 255
Clarence, Duke of, 186
Clarke, Hamilton, 140, 141,

233

Clarke, Savile, 93

Claude, Angelina, 177

Clay, C. 3 139

Clay, F., 139

Cleverly, Mr., 217

Clifford, Camille, 255

Clonmel, Earl, 255

Coborn, C., 186

Coffin, Hayden, 70, 185,
IQO, 205

Cole, 121, 209

Coleman, John, 131

Collette, Charles, 58, 142

Collins, Arthur, 54, 92,
109, 113, 116, 123, 130,
131, 136, 137, 138, 143-
14.5, 147, 163, 166, 178,
1 88, 190, 191, 232, 258,
268

Collins, Mrs., 271

Collins, Wilkie, 61

Comelli, A., 54

Cook, Aynsley, 189

Cook, Miss A., 171

Coombes, W. H., 51

Coote, C., 66

Costa, Sir Michael, 130

Cotogni, 22, 23

Covven, F. H., 89, 119, 120

Cox, Harry, 177

Crabbe, 259

Cremetti, E., 244, 245

Crotty, L.j 209

Crowdy, J., 117

Crowe, A. W. G., 182

Cullen, Cardinal, 27, 29

Curzon, F., 165



INDEX



281



D



Daly, A., 166
Dalziel, Sir J. H., 103
Dami, Sig., 75
Dare, Zena, 2235 255
Dare, Phyllis, 223
Darnley, H.., 147
D'Auban, 162, 270
Davis, Jimmy, 38, 30, Q8
Davies, Ben, 190, 210
Davies, D., 178
Dawson, C., 153
de Bathe, Lady, 230
de Caux, Marquis, 253
de Clifford, Lord, "Ned,"

i 86, 2S5
de Lucia, 1 18
de Reszkes, 114, 123, 137,

203

de Rothschild, A., 93
Debrett, 272
Desprez, F., 95
Didcott, H. J., IQI
Disraeli, 183
Dix, 44

Dolaro, S-, 171, 177
Dones, Mr., 223
Donnelly, Frances, 255
Dowling, R., 0.6, Q7
Dowse, Baron, 45, 47
Doyle, Conan, 125
Dreyfus, 246
Drummond, H., 75
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan,

35, 45

Duncombe, 237, 255
Dunlo, Lord, 112, 237
Dunn, Sir W., 159
Dupaigne, 4Q
Durham, Lord, 38
Dysart, Earl, 133



Edinburgh, The Duke of,

IIQ, IQ6

Edmunds, Lewis, 134
Edward VII., 68, 70, 149



Edwardes, Geo., 39, 66, 68,

176, 184, 242, 256
Egerton, F., 57
Elgar, Sir E., 171
Elliston, S., 206
Elrington, S. N., 31
Esher, Lord, 76, 255
Eversfield, Harry, 126



Fairbrother, 255
Falconer, E., 181, 258
Fancelli, 203

Farnie, H. B., 62, 68, 71,
91, 92, 174, 175, 177, 178
Fawn, J., 236
Fawsitt, Amy, 26
Fife, Duke of, 149
Finck, Herman, 68, 72, 275
Fischoff, Mr., 125
Fletcher, 180

Forsyth, Neil, 114, 115, 137
Fowler, F. H., 196
Fragson, H., 185
French, T. H., 178
Fricker, Adm., 24
Frohman, Charles, 163
Fullerton, W., 69



Gadsby, H., 72
Gailhard, 209
Garrick, David, 258
Garthorne, G. W., 257
Gatti, Bros., 88, 89, 131,

139, 219, 234
Gatti, J. M., 219
Gaylord, 209
Gherlson, Miss, 119
Gibbons, 101
Gilbert, W. S., 180, 232,

.233 .

Gilchrist, Connie, 255
Gill, Allen, 73
Gillespie, Mr., 231
Gladstone, Mr., 19, 46, 96,

103, 115



282 INDEX



Glover, F., 44, 193
Glover, Miss, 57, 257
Glo\er, Prof., 18, 20
Glover, W. F., 237
Godfrey, C., 239
Godwin, E. W., 100
Goldberg, W.,, 75
Gounod, C., 1 19, 203, 235,

236, 262
Gourdi, 249
Graham, C., 257
Gribble, F. H., 98
Griffiths, W. H., 58
Green, R. , 202
Greenwood, F., 98
Grossmith, G., 88, 151, 217
Grundy, Sidney, 66, 70, 205
Guilbert, Yvette, 239
Gunns, M., 25-27, 57, 91
Gye, 171, 207, 235

H

Hague, Sam., 184
Haldon, Baron, 255
Hall, E., 115
Hall, M., 153
Halle, Sir C., 194
Hamilton, Edwin, 96, 97
Hamilton, H., 69, 166, 177,

244

Hammerstein, 200

Hampton, H., 226

Harcourt, Lottie, 58

Harcourt, Sidney, 142

Hare, Sir John, 258

Harmsworth, Alfred, 185

Harrington, Jimmy, 160,
163, 164

Harris, C., 112

Harris, F., 99

Harris, J., 25, 27

Harris, Sir A., 86, 88, m-
114, 115, 116-119, 120-
128, 129, 130, 131, 132,
I33-I35 136, 138, 139,
143, 147, 152, 170, 172,

175, 191, 195, 201, 202,

203, 207, 219, 230, 238,
243, 244, 245, 258



Hart, L., 107
Hart, W. M., 121
Hawkes, O., 181
Hawkins, Justice, 38, 39
Hawtrey, C., 36, 66, 72, 88,

94

Hays, A., 177
Headfort, Marquis of, 255
Hedmondt, 208
Henderson, A., 62, 65, 68,

174, 175, 177
Herman, Hy., 37, 228
Hersee, Rose, 209
Herve, 70, 174, 236
Hicks, Seymour, 149, 176
Hill, Jenny, 239
Hinds, Aubrey, 63
Kitchens, H. J., 70, 231,

234

Kitchens, R. S., 98
Hogarth, W., 72
Hogg, Sir J., 196, 197
Hollander, Max, 243, 244
Hollingshead, J., 69, 77,

237

Hollm.an, 88
Hopwood, 182
Homer, Fred., 136, 137
Howson, J., 72
Huddleston, Jessie, 208
Hughes, F., 89
Hugo, Victor, 50-52
Humphreys, Sir J., 199
Huntingdon, Sir Charles,

255
Hyde, W., 194



Irving, Henry, 25, 26, 57,

125, 134, 148, 149
Isaacs, Sir H., 217
Ives, A. Chester, 102, 103



James, David, 81
Jervis, 177



INDEX



283



Jeune, Sir Francis, 30
" Jim," Dr. Jameson, 48
Jones, H. A., 163, 220
Jones, Kennedy, 103, 104,

185, 186
Jones, Sidney, 140, 141,

IQI



K

Keans, C., 258
Keene, Archie, 92
Kelly, Miss, 34
Kemble, 258
Kerr, Fred., 92
Kilmorey, Lord, 179
King, F. C-, 57
Kiralfy, Imre and Bolossy,

241
Knowles, Alex., 98



Labouchere, 103
Lago, 202
Langley, C., 58
Latham, F. G., 114, 115
Lauder, H., 212
Laverne, Pattie, 177
Lawler, K., 92
Lawrence, Boyle, 103, 131
Le Sage, J. M., 31
Leamar, Sisters, 93, 237,

255

Ledger, E., 134
Leggatt, S., 191
Leigh, H. S., 8r
Leno, Dan, 85, 86, 147-152,

161, 247

Leslie, Fannie, 60
Leslie, H. J., 66, 190
Levilly, C. P., 87
Lewis, S., 74, 178, 232
Lewis, Sir G., 81-83, 97,

107

Leybourne, G., 236
Lind, Algernon, 101
Lind, Betty, 63



Lindo, R. H., 270, 271
Lingard, A., 236
Lingard, H., 177, 178, 236
Lipski, 101, 102
Lloyd, M., 247
Londesborough, Earl, 183
Lonnen, E. J., 99
Lorraine, Sisters, 56
Loveday, E., 95
Loveday, H. J., 95
Lowell, M., 146
Lowenfeld, H., 53, 86
Lowther, Claude, 230
Lucas, Seymour, 271, 272
Luceida, La Belle, 76
Ludwig, W.j 209
Lytton, Lord, 268

M

Maas, Joseph, 209
MacCabe, Cardinal, 18, 20,

26

MacCarthy, Sergt., 19
Macdermot, 89
MacKenzie, Morell, 199,

262
Mancinelli, Luigi, 169, 170,

172, 207
Manners, Ch., 177, 193,

194, 202, 207, 208
Manns, August, 172, 193
Mansel, Bros., 81, 174
Mansel, Dick, 37, 61, 63
Mansfield, R., 69, 231
Maple, Blundell, 75
Maple and Co., 270
Mapleson, 22, 24, 25, 130,

171, 194, 196, 198, 199,

200, 202, 203, 207, 235,

236, 240
Mario, 203
Mars, G., 212
Marston, H. E., 58
Martin, J., 19
Mary of Teck, Princess,

68

Mascagni, 119, 123, 124
Massey, 51
Mathison, A., 81



284



INDEX



Matthews, Henry, 101
Matthews, Sir C., 219
Maud, Princess, 149
May, Phil, 88, 92
Maybrick, Michael, 88
McCarthy, J. H., 98, 113
McCleery, R., 270, 272
Melba, 119, 120, 137, 195,

232

Melville, Andrew, 105, 224
Melville, G., 224
Messager, Andre, 178
Middleton, Sir G., 199
Miska, Madame, 255
Mitchell, J., 19
Monckt9n, Lionel, 71, 275
Mongini, 203
Moody, F., 202, 207
Moore, Augustus, 216
Moore, G. H., 45
Moore, G. W., 45, 57, 62,

63,98

Moore, G. and A., 81, 97
Moore, H., 79
Moore, Mary, 26
Moore, Thos., 30
Moore and Burgess, 188
Morgan, Wilfred, 22
Mortimer, J., 70, 88
Morton, C., 113, 235, 244
Murray, Tom, 58, 59
Musgrove, G., 146



N

Nagle, A., 66
Neck, Frank, 136
Nethersole, O., 109
Netter, A., 243
Neville, Henry, 173
Newcastle, Duke of, 232
Newton, Lord, 67
Newton, Miss A., 26
Nichqlls, Harry, 114
Nicolini, 254
Nicols, D., 241
Nilsson, 203
Nugent, Colonel, 67



O



O'Brien, W., 29
O'Connor, T. P., 103, 153,

218

Odell, E. J., 81
O'Donohue, 45
O'Grady, H., 183
O'Hagan, H. O., 70, 206,

241

O'Hea, J. F., 97
Olitzka, Madame, 202
O'Mahony, 42
O'Mara, 170, 202
Orkney, Earl of, 255
Orme, D., 255
O'Shea, Captain, 107



Packard, F. C., 209
Paget, Lord A., 70, 75, 199
Parnell, Chas., 30, 97
Patti, Madame, 119, 203,

253

Paulett, Earl, 255
Paulus, 192
Peel, Sir Robert, 77
Pegge, W. M., 99
Pelissier, H. G., 211, 212,

213, 214

Penley, W. S-, 66
Penruddock, Mrs., 221
Perier, Casimir, 119
Perren, Geo., 22
Pettit, H., 88, 114, 190,

219, 229

Pfeiffer, Miss, 50, 51
Phillips, F. C-, 37, 61, 63,

81

Piccioli, Madame, 112
Piggott, 36, 37, 39
Pigott, Richard, 96, 97
Planquette, R., 61, 92
Plant, G. W. 3 61
Polden, E-, 244
Potter, S., 184
Powell, Mr., 177
Pyne and Harrison, 193



INDEX



285



Queensberry, Marquis of,

60
Quilter, Morris and Tod-

heatly, 199



R

Raleigh, Cecil, 113, 166,

243, 244

Randall, Harry, 146
Ravogli, Sisters, 202
Reece, Robert, 175, 177
Rehan, Ada f 166
Rendle, Frank, 121, 144
Rhodes, Colonel, 48
Rice, C., 230
Richter, Hans, 88, 195
Ricordi, 121
Rignold, L., 58
Riley, J., 26
Rising, W. S., 177
Rita. Pauline, 177
Riviere, 89, 181, 183
Roberts, A., 31, 70, 236
Roberts, Crompton, 67
Robertson, T. W., 227
Robinson, Anna, 255
Rochef9rt, Henri, 88
Romani, 91, 93
Ronald, Landon, 172, 193,

iQ4

Roselle, Amy, 246
Rosslyn, Earl, 255
Runciman, J., 98
Russel, Sir Charles, 107
Russell, Henry, 173
Russell, Lilian, 65, 68
Ryan, Katie, 58



Sadleir, 45
Sala, G. A., 243
Salisbury, Lord, 105
Sampson, Henry, 134, 219
Sankey, 189



Santley, Sir Charles, 236
" Sara, Mademoiselle," 241
Saxe Coburg, Duke of, 119
Schmid, Adolph, 171
Schneider, 27, 28
Scott, Clement, 68, 96, 98,

107, 135, 192, 228, 229,

239, 244
Sembrich, 119
Seppilli, 121, 122
Sexton, Tom, 29, 30, 96
Seymour, Mr., 237
Shaw, G. Bernard, 98, 133
Simpson, H., 181
Sims, G. R., 88, 219, 225
Sinclair, Delia, 255
Sinico, 23, 47, in, 203
Smith, Bruce, 96
Smith, E. T., 135, 152, 184
Smith, Sydney, 271
Smith, W. H., 39, 40, I79

196
Soldene, Emily, 171, 177,

236
Solomon, Bower, Fred, and

Charlie, 64, 65
Solomon, E., 64, 65, 67, 68,

69, 70, gi, 175, 190, 205
Stanley, Alma, 66, 152, 203
Stanley, Charles, 210
Stead, W. T., 101
Stephano, Bros., 88
Stephens, H. P., 69, 91
Stephens, James, 42, 43, 48
Stephenson, B. C., 91, 92,

234

Stevens, Victor, 136
Stevenson, Robert Louis,

234

Stewart, Nellie, 145, 146
St. John, Florence, 177
Stone, Amelia, 146
Storey, Fred., 93, 255
Storey, Sylvia, 255
Stratton, Eugene, 188
Stuart, Leslie, 185
Sturgess, A., 54, 131, 221
Sullivan, A., 65, 67, 89,

175, 180, 185, 186, 244
Sullivan, Barry, 25, 57



286



INDEX



fullivan, Charles, 183, 184
utton, H., 66
Sykes, C., 170



Tamagno, 124
Taylor, J., 126, 130
Tempest, M., 66, 190
Ternss, William, 81, 219
Tester, Dolly, 255
Tetrazzini, 195, 206
Thorne, T., 26
Tietjens, 18, 22, 23, 47, 236
Tildsley, 76
Toole, J., 57. ni

T-> 1 YTT ' ^*

1 owle, W., 212-214
Tracy, Louis, 104
Trebelli, 22, 23, 203
Tree, Sir H. B., 107, 164,
171

V

Van Biene, 178
Vanloo, A., 177
Vaughan, K., 68, 75
Vaughan, Sir James, 90
Vert, N., 88
Viardots, 203
Vizzani, 23

Vokes Family, 129, 139
Von Bulow, 165
Voules, H., 103

W

Wadman, Tilly, 177
Wagner, 194



Walkley, A. B., 98, 138
Ward, Dudley, 76
Warden, J., 92
Webster, ig6
Webster, Sir A., 67
Welch, Miss Kemp, 272
Whistler, J., 100
White, 39, 40, 88
Wigram, Colonel, 67, 68
Wilcocks, 184
Wilde, Lady, 33-35
Wilde, Oscar, 30, 31. 33
Wilde, Sir W., 30, 35-37
Wilde, W., 30-32
Williams, B., 57
Williams, C., 98, 189, 236
Wilmot, C., 90
Wilson, Harry, 81, 93, 219
Wimperis, A., 212
Wood, Mrs. John, 145
Wood, Sir Henry J., 193
Wortham, General Hale,

66

Wren, Sir Christopher, 258
Wright, W., 243
Wyndham, Charles, 65,

126, 134, 258
Wyndham, R. H., 59



Yohe, May, 170, 193



Zola, E., 49



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